You'll have to forgive me for going off on this Claire-and-Elle-interaction kick. The masterminds of Heroes created such intriguing parallels between the two characters that I couldn't NOT explore their relationship.
Chapter 11: Old Friends, New Problems
Peter & Claire's house
"Well, I'm off," Peter announced, picking up his paramedic's jacket from its customary place on the back of a kitchen chair. It was his first time going to work since the Pinehearst incident, and he wasn't at all sure it was advisable to go off and leave Claire and Elle alone together. Living in the same house did not agree with either of them; Claire seemed to be holding a grudge over one or all of the many things Elle had done to make her life unpleasant, while Elle...was Elle. She'd grown slightly less belligerent - toward Peter and Bella, at least - but she still enjoyed antagonizing Claire way too much. Their most recent spat had erupted over the TV remote and looking back on it, Peter realized that leaving them unsupervised would be foolish in the extreme. "Maybe I should ask Bella to come over..."
Elle slammed the refrigerator door. "No! I do not need a babysitter!"
"That'd be more convincing if you said it like a big girl," Claire called from her spot on the couch, where she was enjoying her victory in the tussle over the remote.
Here we go again, Peter thought despairingly. He could already hear the jumble of possible retorts racing each other through Elle's mind...
...But this time she surprised him by not verbalizing any of them. Instead she smiled sweetly and said, "You don't need to call Bella. I'll be good - scout's honor."
Ha! I'll believe that when I see it. Maybe not even then... I bet psychos can act really well...
If I ever get my power back... Just wait, Cheerleader... The vivid mental picture of her setting Claire's hair on fire made an unnerving counterpoint to Elle's innocent smile.
"Just try not to kill each other, okay?"
Peter teleported to the hospital, but called Bella before going inside.
"Let me guess: Claire and Elle again? Bet you're glad to get away from them for a few hours."
"They still argue all the time, over the littlest things. Today it was Elle drinking the last of the coffee, and then the remote; they actually pulled each other's hair! I thought girls only did that on TV!"
There was a muffled laugh from Bella's end, which she quickly stifled. When she spoke, she sounded perfectly serious and sympathetic. "My offer to let Elle stay with me still stands, you know."
"And I would love to take you up on it, but it'd look weird for her to stay at your house when she's supposed to be Claire's and my cousin. You know, I think they're as mad about that cover story as anything that's happened in the past between them."
Bella sighed. "Well, maybe it'll be good for them to have some time without you around - give them a chance to do that female bonding stuff you see in the movies."
"I'm afraid the only bonding they'd be interested in involves duct tape..."
###
With nobody else there to act as a buffer, the tension Elle and Claire both felt because of the other's presence mounted until they could nearly taste it in the air. They both pretended it wasn't there - Claire remained sprawled on the couch, and Elle continued rummaging for a snack - but it showed. It showed in the nervous twitching of Claire's foot as she stared unseeingly at the TV screen and the way Elle shuffled through the fridge's contents even though her appetite had vanished. They both kept up the pretense because neither wanted to be the one to snap first.
Then Elle realized how ridiculous the pretense was. Whatever game of one-upmanship existed between her and Claire, it was obvious that Elle had already lost. She was stuck in this piddling, cold, rain-drenched town, in this house with two of her least favorite people, because she had nowhere else to go. Claire had Peter and Bella; the only person who'd halfway cared about Elle was dead. Her power was gone, and she'd even been reduced to wearing Bella's stupid, boring clothes day after day because she had no money and hated the idea of asking to borrow some. Who cared what she looked like anyway?
Suddenly, she felt she couldn't stay in the house one more minute without screaming. She made for the sliding glass door that opened on the backyard and halted mid-step, battling a feeling that she ought to ask permission to go out. Daddy didn't like her going out on her own. Daddy's gone. No freaking way am I asking Claire for permission to do anything! How many times had Peter told her she could walk out the door any time she wanted? Now she was going to put that theory to the test. She slid the door open a crack.
Instantly, she heard the couch's springs creak as Claire shifted to look at her. "It's raining outside."
Elle peered out through the glass. "It's only a drizzle; I'll be fine."
Claire got up and approached her, holding out the bulky yellowish flannel monstrosity Bella called a jacket. "At least put this on. Don't want you getting a cold." You're a big enough pain when you feel okay, her eyes said.
"Thanks, Mom," Elle huffed, snatching the jacket - anything to shut the cheerleader up. She went outside, the jacket wrapped around her shoulders, and flashed Claire a triumphant grin when she found that she'd been right; it was only drizzling. If there was a single perk to having her ability taken away, it was that water no longer hurt her. Elle had never been out in the rain before. She turned her face up to the gray sky, closing her eyes as tiny droplets of moisture hit her face.
Claire was having a major 'aha' moment. She had known all along that Elle wouldn't stay inside forever, sulking - or adjusting, as Peter and Bella called it. They either thought she posed no threat without her ability (Peter) or felt sorry for her (Bella) because she'd never seen Elle's mean side. Only Claire knew that making Elle's power inaccessible to her didn't make her a better person; it just made her unable to carry out...whatever devious plot had formed in her twisted mind. Because she had to be up to something, right? Claire wished she could believe otherwise so she wouldn't have to be on edge every second that passed with Elle in her house...
But she'd come too close to trusting Elle once before, when they traveled to Pinehearst together - the one and only time they'd been on the same side - and Elle had proven herself unreliable...untrustworthy. For all Claire knew, Elle might have invented the story of her imprisonment; putting her in a cell with Bella might have been an elaborate ruse Arthur cooked up. Peter insisted he would know if that were the case, but Claire was less certain - could even a telepath know everything that went on in a crazy person's mind?
For the last two days Claire had kept a careful eye on Elle, just waiting for her to break from her established pattern of sulking in her loft 'room' all day, except for when she came downstairs to eat. Now the moment of truth had arrived. Elle had finally gone out...to stand in the light rain. Oh come on! Does she really think she can fool me that way?
Yet, after almost ten minutes of watching Elle aimlessly roam the backyard, a seed of doubt sprouted in Claire's mind. "Enough of this." With no Peter or Bella around, Claire decided it was time to have it out with Elle. She went outside and sloshed through the overgrown wet grass. Elle didn't react until Claire spoke to her. "What are you doing?"
"Watching the clouds," Elle answered without taking her eyes off them.
"Watching the clouds," Claire scornfully repeated. "No, I mean what are you really doing? You spend hours up in the loft that nobody knows what you're doing - I wanna know what you're up to."
Elle whirled to face her. "What could I be up to? I've got no powers, no money, no family - nothing, okay? Even the clothes I'm wearing belong to somebody else!" She furiously wadded Bella's yellow jacket into a ball and threw it at Claire's head.
Stunned, Claire barely caught it in time. "I... I'm sorry." Whatever she meant to say, it wasn't that. Did she really just express sympathy for Elle 'Psycho-Bitch' Bishop?
"You're not sorry. You hate me. Well, guess what? I want to go as much as you want me gone, but I can't! How am I supposed to get my ability back if I leave?" She snorted. "Not that Bella's any real help. I don't think she even knows what she's doing."
"She's doing her best," Claire snapped - she wasn't about to let Elle of all people criticize her best friend. "She made the pain stop, didn't she?"
"Yes. But it's been two days and we're still no closer to figuring out why it started in the first place! All she can tell me is basically that the problem's all in my head." Elle frowned. "The stuff she says, like that my ability is rooted in my brain - she's like freaking Sylar-"
Claire slapped her. "Bella has nothing in common with that sick bastard!" Elle just held her cheek, staring balefully at Claire. "Okay, I didn't mean to hit you, but it's true. Bella is very sensitive to certain people's particular abilities, which is why she can be in a room with you, me, and Peter and only short out yours - not everybody's, like the Haitian. You with me?"
"So far."
"But she doesn't have Sylar's understanding of what we do. That's probably why she can't find what's causing your problem, just that you have one."
"A fat lot of good that does me."
Hesitantly, Claire asked, "Do you really want it back that badly?"
"Of course! Why wouldn't I?"
"Why would you?" Claire countered. "You told me you didn't want to be a Company girl - I thought you wanted a normal life, like I supposedly had."
"I... That isn't... You don't know what you're talking about! When did your ability first manifest, huh?"
"What does that have to do with-?"
"Just answer the question."
"Fine. One year ago, when I was sixteen. So?"
"So you lived without it for sixteen years. Mine first manifested when I was four - I can't even remember what it was like not to have it! It's a part of the basic stuff that makes me me: blonde hair, gray eyes, 5'3'', generates electricity. Anyway, if you're so desperate to be normal why haven't you had Bella shut off your healing, huh?"
Claire had no answer to that.
"I'll tell you why - it's because these powers have a way of becoming part of who you are, no matter how short a time you've had them. So yes, if I could be in control again, I'd take mine back in a heartbeat. In the meantime I'm stuck here!" Elle kicked the trunk of a nearby cedar in a sudden pique of frustration.
Claire studied her, face blank. On impulse, she said, "Wanna get out of here? Just for the day."
Elle was instantly suspicious of the unexpected offer. "Yeah? And go where?"
"There's a mall in Seattle - you could buy your own clothes if...if you want." Claire shuffled her feet, feeling herself warming slightly to Elle and uneasy about it. "One condition: I get to drive."
"Okay...if Bella comes with us. I can only take so much alone time with you, Pom-pom."
Claire had turned to the house, but now she spun back toward Elle, one finger held up in warning. "Call me 'Pom-pom' one more time..."
"You'll what?" Elle taunted. "Pull my hair again? If you do, I might just rip yours out."
"It'll grow back," Claire said smugly.
###
Two hours later they were in the Seattle City Mall - when she looked back on the excursion, Elle would swear that persuading Bella to join them took as long as the actual trip. Even now, Bella wore a slightly pained expression as she stood outside the dressing rooms with Claire. "Cheer up, Bella; at least you don't have to try on stuff."
Bella glanced up at the ceiling and mouthed 'thank you', then stumbled into a circular rack as someone tried to get past her. "Oh, sorry."
"Bella? Omigosh, it is you! And Claire!" Jessica Stanley somehow managed to hug them both while still hanging on to her purse, shopping bags from another store, and current prospective purchases. "Lauren, look who it is!"
Lauren narrowed her eyes, plainly less than thrilled. Claire shot her an 'oh whatever' look that Bella had tried several times to emulate and then ignored her. "It's great to see you too, Jess. Wow, cute bikini!"
Jessica held up the hanger, appraising its lime-green-with-a-sparkly-pink-seashell-pattern contents. "I've spent hours shopping for one; the weatherman says we'll have a heat wave in a week. Just in time to warm up the ocean for my birthday party! I mailed your invitations yesterday, but I don't know if you've got them yet. You'll both come, right?"
Before Claire or Bella could reply, Elle emerged from her dressing room, raising her eyebrows at Jess and Lauren. "New friends?"
"Old friends. Claire and I went to school with them - this is Jessica Stanley and Lauren Mallory. Jess, Lauren, meet Elle Bishop. She's Claire and Peter's cousin from...uh..."
"Ohio," Elle filled in.
"Awesome! I was just telling your cousin about my birthday party; you should totally come too. Wear your swimsuit, 'kay?"
"Great, I'm in the right place to buy one."
"Jess, aren't you forgetting something?" Lauren asked. "If you're inviting these three, you better invite Peter Petrelli too. The party's Saturday night - Bella can't leave her boyfriend all alone."
"Wha- H-how do you-?" Bella stammered.
Jessica was only too happy to tell her. "Oh, my mom ran into your dad at the supermarket day before yesterday and he told her all about it. She couldn't believe you're dating a paramedic now; she asked if I'd known that, which of course I totally didn't." She threw an accusing glance Bella's way. "Bella! I can't believe you never told me! This is huge!"
"Sorry, I- The whole dating thing is kind of..." Bella trailed off as Jessica resumed chattering.
"Anyway, it'd be totally cool if you brought him-"
"If he's not too busy saving somebody's life or something," Lauren threw in. There was a slight note of derision in her voice, as if she thought saving lives was a poor reason for missing a beach party - which in her mind, it might well have been.
###
"I can't believe this," Bella wailed as they left the mall to deposit their purchases in Claire's car before hitting the food court. "Of all the people Charlie could've vented to, why'd it have to be Mary-Beth Stanley? She's the biggest gossip on the entire Olympic Peninsula!" Claire patted her shoulder sympathetically. "And why did Jess say I should bring Peter to her party? She doesn't even know him!"
"That's why," Claire said. "She wants to see if you've got anything worth being jealous over."
"So what do I do?"
"The way I see it you've got two choices: you can talk Peter into going with you, or you can skip the party altogether. Or you could go alone and be mercilessly teased by Lauren - it'd give you a great excuse to punch her."
Bella sighed. "No thank you. And today started out so good-"
She was interrupted midsentence by a man jumping out from behind a dumpster and shoving a gun in her face. "Gimme your wallets! Now or I'll shoot!"
Which of the three do you think has the best chance of fighting off their would-be mugger?
