Title: "The Road Not Taken"
Rating: PG-13 probably.
Pairings: Claire/Elle, Claire/Gretchen
Summary: When Claire goes back in time to save Elle, her relationship with Gretchen is threatened.
Disclaimer: I do not own the television show "Heroes."
Note: Takes place after "Brave New World." The past takes place after "The Butterfly Effect." Thank you Lied and She-Hulk from the BAM Board and alexfoster451 on livejournal for all your help.
Chapter 11
Claire opened her eyes and looked right into the afternoon sun. It was a luxury not many people had. Looking directly into the sun with no consequences was a luxury and Claire appreciated it. She tried to take advantage of every luxury she had. She knew she could be unappreciative and rebellious at times but she tried. Well, when she remembered she tried.
She realized she was lying on a hotbed of sand and took a handful of it before she let it flow through her fingers. It was white and pure and flew in the direction of the ocean that was ebbing away from the shore. Was this the paradise she spotted from the patio? Her own personal oasis.
Suddenly, Gretchen and Elle were standing above her on either side. Elle was clad in a strappy pink bikini while Gretchen wore a green one. Neither left much to the imagination.
"Claire, are you okay? You look a little confused," Gretchen said with her free flowing hair blowing in her face.
"She always looks like that. But are you, you know, okay? You should be. More than anyone else," Elle said before looking at Gretchen. "She eats a lot of vegetables. Very healthy."
Claire's mouth opened and closed a few times. This was really odd and yet not. Not knowing how to respond to any of this she finally settled on responding to their statement. "I'm immortal."
"Not everything's about you Claire," Elle chided before perkily smiling. "But we could be."
"Threesome?" Gretchen asked as she and Elle were already reaching to undo the ties on their bathing suits.
"Okay," Claire said as she sat up. Nothing needed to make sense anymore as the girl's breasts fell out of their tops.
"You can have us both," Elle said brightly as she tossed her bikini top in the ocean. "The three of us can have each other for a little while. Then we'll age and die."
"And you'll be all alone," Gretchen said with equal brightness as the bottom of her swimsuit fell from her hips. She leaned forward on the beach and stretched her body out next to Claire as Elle did the same.
Claire was distracted. She liked the way this was heading but their words were striking a chord with her that was resonating too loud. "What?"
"Well, you'll want us for a little while but you won't want us when we're in our fifties and you're still young." Elle combed her hands comfortingly through Claire's hair. Claire wanted to relax into the touch but the words hurt her more and more. It was the only thing that could hurt anymore.
Gretchen simultaneously ran her fingers up and down Claire's arm, a soft and tickling touch. "Then you'll live for centuries and centuries until you can't remember our faces or any of the time we spent together. You might not even remember how we died. Just that we were a couple of girls you might have loved once."
Claire could not look at them anymore. They became more adventurous in their touches, traveling the expanse of Claire's naked body. Claire did not remember getting naked but here she was and there they were. Every touch broke her heart more and more until the beach started to morph until it turned green and the ocean turned purple. It was at that moment when both pairs of hands were on her that Elle choose to remind her. "And you'll be all alone."
Claire woke up with such a start she found herself sitting up. She looked around and found that she was on the small bed in her room of the mansion. It was not as comfortable as she remembered. It was itchy and far too warm. She wanted out. She wanted to escape. To escape from her room or from her dream was the question.
As she began to move quickly and attempt to escape the cot she noticed the strange texture against her skin. The sheets were moist and a texture coating her skin was dry and rough. It was actually familiar in a way that did not make her feel good or bad. She was covered in blood from the mirror.
She barely remembered it happening. She certainly did not see it coming. More than anything she was worried about the two girls collapsing in front of her after their fight. With that she got out of bed and made her way to her small bathroom.
She flicked on the bathroom light and almost did a double take in the mirror. She brushed the hair out of her face and ran her hand through the blood matted hair only to quit when she did not make progress with the dried globs. She knew she would have to clean up before she went outside. She looked like she just walked away from a murder scene. She did technically walk away from someone's death even if it was her own.
She took a seat on the edge of the tub and grabbed the brass handle in her hands and turned the hot water on. She leaned her hand into the shower spray and watched the blood come off of her hands layer by layer. She did not have the pain or the wound to prove she was human. All she ever had left was the mess that needed cleaning up.
Once her hand was sufficiently clean and the water was hot enough that steam was starting to rise in vertical clouds, Claire peeled her clothes off and stepped into the shower. In time and with a liberal amount of soap, all the grime began to disappear as always. A few pieces of glass revealed themselves as well.
Finally, she was clean and had to leave the steady streams of water for the unreliable and unpredictable consequences of the real word. She left the shower and dried her hair before whipping it up into a bun. She put on fresh underwear with a clean uniform and put all the bloody bedclothes and the maid's uniform into the hamper. She checked the carpet for blood spatters. Satisfied that she had done all she could to procrastinate responsibly, she went into the hall.
She was one step into the hall when she collided with Gretchen's stepsister, Delilah. Knowing she should be feeling some pain that she was not, she let out a groan of pain. Delilah's big eyes filled with worry.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry," Delilah said instantly backing away from her, almost cowering.
Claire felt bad for making any noise of pain at all as she put her hand on the girl's shoulder and knelt down just slightly to look in her eyes. "Of course, I'm okay. Are you okay? You were running down the hall awfully fast."
"Yeah, I was just going to play with the telescope. I wanted to get away from Mom and Dad kissing and Gretchen with her girlfriend," Delilah said ducking her head down shyly.
Claire's smile faltered. "Gretchen and who?"
"Her new girlfriend Elle," Delilah supplied with a perky smile. Claire smiled back as widely as she could, silently thanking the fact that she could heal otherwise Gretchen and Elle would have given her a heart attack by now.
As Claire's mind raced, she did not move an inch, causing Delilah's smile to slip off of her face.
"Claire?" Delilah asked with a slight tremble.
Claire's mind came back to the present and she took a step back and patted Delilah on the shoulder as she began to walk away. "Okay, well, I'll go see if anyone needs a snack. You wouldn't happen to know where Rene is, would you?"
"Um," Delilah said, moving around her ankle nervously. "He's on his cellphone, outside."
"Okay, thanks. Have fun telescoping," Claire called after the little girl.
"Okay," the little girl yelled without looking back; her little legs excitedly sprinting towards the stairs. Claire tried to wait until the girl was out of eyeshot before she ran in the opposite direction coming to a clumsy stop in front of Gretchen's bedroom.
Inside she found a sight she thought she would never see, Gretchen and Elle sitting close together on Gretchen's bed. They were both facing the television as Elle was animatedly playing with a game controller of a wii, moving her whole body across the bed with every move she made with the controller. Gretchen sat warily next to her, very still and only moving her controller every now and then. Most of her focus was on stealing curious glances at Elle's behavior.
"You're really good at this game," Gretchen said finally.
Elle shrugged without taking her eyes off the screen. "Yeah, I had one of these once. It takes a finally tuned skill. Makes me sort of thirsty."
Elle paused then and turned to face Claire in the doorway. A smug smile crossed her face as she eyed Claire up and down in her uniform. "Serving girl, you came just in time. May I have a water, bottled, but with a chilled glass?"
Gretchen turned to face Claire, curiosity and confusion still lingering in her eyes. "Claire, how's your head?"
Claire did not know how to respond to either of those questions, so she just stood there for a moment with her mouth open. She was waiting for sound to come out or something to happen instinctually. Her instincts failed her.
Elle sat back on her heels and leaned towards Gretchen. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to assume. Does your maid speak English?"
An unveiled glare took over Claire's features before she realized that she should not be glaring at "Gretchen's girlfriend." The thought of them together made her manic with jealousy but she was not sure which girl she was jealous of.
"Yes, she does. She just has the same head injury that I have," Gretchen explained to Elle who nodded with an exaggerated "Oh yeah."
Claire could not wait to hear this one.
"I could get the water for you. I need to talk this out with Claire anyway," Gretchen said as she swung her legs off the bed. Elle rested her arms against Gretchen's shoulders and eased her back on the bed.
"Allow me. You need to get over that concussion," Elle said in a sweet voice while poking Gretchen's head. Elle shakily got to her feet on the mattress and jumped along the bed until she landed on the floor and raised her hands up like an Olympic gymnast who had just completed a routine. She glanced at both girls with expectant looks.
"I give it a ten," Gretchen joked.
"Nine point five," Claire said, leaning against the doorway.
Elle tossed a sweet 1000 watt grin in Gretchen's direction with a "sweet" before swiveling her head towards Claire and dropping her smile to a frown with a "mean."
Elle stomped through the door and brushed the entire right side of her body against Claire as she went. Claire was tempted to follow her out but wanted to get a couple answers from Gretchen first like what the hell was this girlfriend business all about?
Claire stepped into the room and closed the door. Turning to Gretchen she asked, "what was that about my head?"
Gretchen sat forward, suddenly concerned again. "Is it okay? Mine's not okay. I have amnesia. What do you remember from today?"
Amnesia? No one who had their mind wiped ever remembered it being wiped. Well, except Peter and Hiro and her grandmother at one point... but they all healed and remembered what they forgot. They were not aware that someone made them forget something unless they were told as much or they awoke in a really strange situation.
'If seeing Gretchen and Elle in bed together was weird for me, it may have been weird for them too,' Claire reasoned to herself.
Claire hesitantly took a seat on the bed next to Gretchen. "I think I remember everything. Why? What do you remember?"
Gretchen took a moment to think and seemed to struggle in an all too familiar way. "I made a new background report for you and Rene. Then I went to the kitchen. To make breakfast? And then I met Elle and invited her in? And then I was helping you clean my mirror and it fell on us and hit our heads which is why I don't remember anything after heading to the kitchen this morning."
Claire frowned knowingly. "You don't sound too sure about a lot of that."
"It's because I hit my head. Rene and Elle told me all about it and how you hit your head too, which is why you were lying down in the other room. Right?" Gretchen asked.
Claire did not like this at all. "Yes, that's right. I remember this all happening just like you said."
Gretchen nodded, seeming to accept the story more once Claire confirmed her. Claire felt worse for deceiving her a little more. She hoped Elle was not being deceived this way as well.
Gretchen scratched her ear, her hand lingering by her head as if she did not trust her own brain at the moment. "I like Elle. I mean she's pretty and funny and nice-ish and knows a lot of weird stuff on weird subjects which I really respond to. I just..."
Gretchen had a far away look in her eye. She was not really focusing on anything around her. It was something Claire's mother Sandra did at times and it made her very tense ever since she found out the cause and the damage of memory erasing.
Claire put her hand on Gretchen's to bring her back to the present. Gretchen made eye contact with Claire but was still a little hazy and far away.
After a few strained moments for Claire, Gretchen spoke again. "Do you remember if Elle seemed to like me at all when she first came in? I mean she seems great, but the first time I saw her look at something other than the television screen was when you walked in."
Claire thought about how to answer this without completely lying. As she thought back to the fight the girls were embroiled in she said, "She was all over you. There was even a moment when I was in the room where she was on top of you, horizontally speaking."
"Really?" Gretchen asked, her eyes widening in amazement.
Claire nodded. "Really."
Gretchen shook her head. "I can't believe that."
A shock went through Claire's heart. Could she tell Claire was lying? "Why not?"
"I'm such a jerk. I can't believe I did that in front of you after we kissed the other day. I mean, I know we agreed to be friends with a fresh start but wow. That's so insensitive. Claire, you have to forgive me," Gretchen pleaded, finally completely focusing on the girl in front of her and taking both of Claire's hands in hers.
Claire smiled hating herself and Rene all the time. "Of course."
"You're so nice to me," Gretchen said.
The heartfelt tone of Gretchen's voice was all Claire could take. She needed to leave the room immediately. She released Gretchen's hands and quickly rose from the bed. She speed walked to the door, yanked it open and quickly closed it behind her.
She turned her head to the right and saw Elle strolling toward her, flirtatiously sipping out of a water bottle with a straw. How did she know where the straws were? Claire did not even know.
"Elle, do you remember or not remember, Gretchen inviting you in here?" Claire asked desperately.
Elle dropped the straw from her mouth with a grimace. "What? Are you kidding? No. Just had to convince her she and I were dating as a cover until you guys could get me out of here. I mean, there are worse covers than pretending to date a brainwashed billionaire."
Relief overtook Claire's features as she began to subconsciously step toward Elle, needing to be close to her for some reason. She was thrilled beyond belief Elle was actually okay.
"So, this is just a cover and nothing more. No trickery and no revenge for the kiss?" Claire asked hopefully.
"What kiss?" Elle asked.
Claire laughed at the question before eyeing Elle with something resembling bedroom eyes as she told Elle, "You know what kiss."
Time stretched on and Claire became increasingly aware that Elle was not being coy, playing a game or simply being difficult. She had no idea what Claire was talking about.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Well, Claire and I are a little more than just friends. Didn't she tell you about how she kissed me on the beach last night?" Elle asked, nodding her head towards Claire.
Rene heard Elle bragging to Gretchen. He wiped her. Claire was instantly and inexplicably furious.
Elle waved her hand in front of Claire's face as she tried to get her attention. She gave up after a couple seconds and walked back into Gretchen's bedroom, leaving the door open behind her.
Claire was tempted to follow her in there. She did not know what she would say but she felt she should say something. She stopped herself from going in when she heard a door close to her left.
Rene had just entered at the end of the hall. His cellphone was still in his hands. Claire stormed towards him and he simply stood there as if he expected her to.
"Outside," Claire said when she finally reached him. She pointed outside and did not wait for him to follow her as she rushed out onto the sand. She quickly spun around to face him. "What the hell, Rene?"
"What are you referring to?" Rene asked, as he closed the door behind them and shoved his hands in his pockets.
Claire laughed, the sound of which was cruel even to her own ears as she kicked the sand underneath her feet. "Let's start with amnesia, shall we? Telling someone whose memory was wiped that they have amnesia. That's new for you."
"Stealing secrets from a person's mind is an easy thing. Placing ideas in there is quite another," Rene said cryptically.
"Interesting concept. They should make a movie about it someday. Back to the actual answers though. What's with the wiping?" Claire snapped as she got closer to Rene. He did not back down.
"Claire, this is a two person mission and it's getting more complicated by the second," Rene said quickly. Claire opened her mouth to voice an opinion but Rene plowed on. "The girls were fighting and you were dead and would stay dead until you and I were in separate rooms. I had to manage the situation by myself, keeping everyone alive and safe. I could not do that the way things were going."
"So, this was your solution?" Claire asked weakly, though she saw his point. It did not make up for what he did.
"I needed Elle somewhere where we could keep an eye on her until we could find a safe house for her. You could not help. No one could help at that moment. The only way to keep her here and to let the Bergs keep her here was to remove the conflict that you created," Rene said.
Claire was always shorter than most but she never felt towered by Rene. She never felt inferior to him despite meeting him when she was only a teenager. He was tall and mysterious while she was short and something of an open book when it came to those she confided in. He always spoke with unflinching elegance and calmness. Her speech was full of passion and recklessness. Somehow through all of it, she always felt that she was equal.
In this moment she did not. His speech may have been delivered with his own special cadence but even after all his years of friendship with her father Noah, he had never resembled her father more than he did now. It was not in appearance or in personality, it was the feeling Claire had in her gut as he lectured her. The feeling that she did not know as much as she thought and that her recklessness had a consequence.
"I could not take her somewhere or leave her somewhere without you. I needed to make other arrangements here," Rene said somewhat softer.
Claire crossed her arms. Ready to stay angry but fighting it as she felt she had a lesson coming. "Why couldn't you move her?"
"It's too risky since the entire point of our mission is to protect her from Lazarus group. They could already be here. Now that she is a target, we are all targets. Even the Bergs. Even Gretchen. We have to be cautious and only move her when the time is right," Rene said as he began to pace away from her.
More pieces fell into place as he moved away from her. He was close with her dad, her uncle, her grandmother. If there was a person on the task force to investigate the Lazarus group he would be on it. He knew more than he was letting on.
"What do you know about the Lazarus group? Before you say nothing or that it's need to know. Now is the need to know time. Lives are in our hands. You have to tell me before anything else goes wrong. What do you know?" Claire asked.
Rene was silent for a moment and Claire became convinced she did not get through. She was ready to give up on asking. She gave it her best shot. He was the best secret keeper she knew.
"We have someone on the inside of the group. They have not been able to give many messages to us. Their cover is so deep they cannot be seen talking to any of us for more than a few seconds every few months. We know that the Lazarus group is made up of people we are already familiar with. And we know they have a power sharer," Rene said before sitting cross legged in the sand. He seemed as if he wanted to meditate and Claire sat next to him as she also wanted to take this information in.
"Who is our person on the inside?" Claire asked.
"I cannot tell you. I dare not say it out loud while we are out here. On a mission nowhere is safe," Rene said.
Claire nodded and accepted she would not get that information at this moment. "A power sharer? Is that like an empath?"
Rene shook his head. "An empath could not be in a group such as Lazarus that wants so many dead. A power sharer is not like Peter's power or Arthur's power or Sylar's power. Empaths take the powers of others and copy them. A power sharer is something like... a CD burner."
Claire did not know that Rene even knew what CD burner was. She was sure she had not heard him right. "CD burner?"
"I believe so," Rene said. "When you have a CD, the original does whatever it was originally meant to. When you use a CD burner it copies the contents of the CD onto another one. A power sharer copies a power from someone and puts into another person. In some cases, many other people."
Claire took a minute to think this over. "So..."
"So, you are immortal. Say you are facing five Lazarus agents. You have an advantage because you are immortal but then the power sharer copies your ability and puts it into the other four agents. Now, you're immortal against four other immortals who possess whatever powers they originally had. You're outnumbered and overpowered," Rene said.
Claire nodded, her mind less on her safety and more on Elle's. "So, if they corner Elle alone. They could get her power and use it against her despite the fact it's already being used against her."
Rene nodded, seemingly pleased that she was in the company girl mind set. Her heart may be leading her but she was in that mind set now.
"What are the limitations of a power sharer? Weaknesses?" Claire asked, tracing patterns in the sand.
"A power sharer needs to be in close proximity of an ability and they can never take on another ability themselves," Rene said, tossing a look at Claire and waited for her to come to the obvious conclusion. She sensed he wanted her to say something so he could explain more but choose to indulge him.
"That would mean if we could incapacitate the power sharer, we could stand a chance in a fight," Claire concluded.
Rene nodded. "And that's what the Lazarus group does. It's why they want Elle. They're not collecting soldiers as much as they are collecting abilities to copy. It just helps if the people with abilities are willing to be swayed to the cell."
Claire realized what this meant. Elle was chosen because she had killed before. Claire and Rene were protecting her and the Lazarus group was expecting Elle to be willing to kill them if they made her a good enough offer. If not...
"That's what you meant about an empath never being a part of the Lazarus group," Claire said.
"Peter was very empathetic and became an empath. You can bounce back from every set back and you acquired the ability to heal from any wound. Tracy Strauss was known as an ice queen and she had the power to turn things to ice. Matt Parkman could not read words very well, only people and he got the ability to read minds," Rene continued.
This time Claire interrupted him. "Elle has an electric and at times violent personality and she can control electricity. The powers are more a part of us than I ever wanted to admit. What's that make a power sharer?"
"A self interested thief which means we have to protect ourselves and Elle and the Bergs. The power sharer may be able to override even my power if all the others possess it," Rene said.
Claire had more answers than she wanted and less answers than she wanted. She needed to know more about who was targeting them and how they could all get out of this okay. All she knew now was that they were in danger and just by being there she was bringing danger to them. To Elle and Gretchen.
All Claire could ask was, "So, what do we do now?"
"You go and watch the girls while I finish making the arrangements," Rene suggested.
Claire nodded and stood up without looking at him. She turned on her heel and headed towards the house. She opened the door and traveled the lonely hallway back to Gretchen's room. She stood outside the threshold where Gretchen and Elle were both animatedly playing the wii.
She could not bring herself to go inside. It was a problem she had despite the flecks of hope every couple years. Since she was 15 years old, no matter what abilities she had and others had, whether she was hiding or out in the open, she was always all alone.