Because You Found Me
Chapter 13
By obi's girl
Mr. Bennet carefully surveyed the damage around him, and he didn't like what he saw. Eden's body was being carried away in a black bag. Meanwhile, Sylar had broken out of his cell. Normally, he'd ask the Haitian to track him, but he wasn't available at the moment. In fact, it had been a very long time since he had heard back from the Haitian. Normally, he would update him on his progress finding Claire, but he hadn't done that.
Something was wrong.
Mr. Bennet went into the hall and removed his cell phone, calling home. Mrs. Bennet picked up. "Hey honey, I know its last minute, but I have a business matter to attend to in New York," he said.
"What about Claire?" she asked, looking away from Lyle, who was watching TV. "Have the police contacted you?"
"No, they haven't, but I'm confident that she'll return home very soon," he said and hung up. He was going to put the cell phone away but made another call. "Hello, can I speak with the lead investigator on the Sylar case?"
Claire lazily turned over, smelling the fresh eggs and cooking sausage. She smiled, stretched and sat up and left her room, walking to the kitchen area. Peter stood in front of the small stove cooking sausage and managing an omelet in another cooking pan. He turned briefly and smiled at Claire. "Good morning," he said, lowering the heat on the eggs. "Have a seat."
Claire sat down at the table. Peter turned off the heat on the stove and grabbed tongs, removing the sausage and placed them onto a platter. He took a spatula and placed the eggs on another platter and setting both plates on the table. He then went to the refrigerator and took out orange juice and some cups from the washer. Two empty plates were already set on the table, so Claire spooned some of the eggs and took two sausages. "I thought you didn't have any groceries," she said, eating the egg.
"I went out early. There's a small market not far from here," he said, pouring Claire a glass of juice. "After you eat, we'll go out and buy your things."
Claire looked at him thoughtfully. "Peter…" she started.
Peter nodded. "There's no need to say anything, Claire," he said, "Just enjoy the food."
"I swear the longer we wait here, the more I want to know what's going to happen next in this saga," Audrey mused, staring back at the apartment building across the street. Matt laughed, eating his breakfast. He'd stopped by a grocery store not far and picked up some bagels.
"It's not like we're watching a soap opera or anything," he said and noticed Peter and Claire leave the apartment. Matt waited until they crossed the street and then he and Audrey left the car, following them.
Peter showed Claire the subway and they took it to Times Square. Matt and Audrey followed, sitting in the next car. After some stops, they left the metro car and went up to the street. Claire looked all around, totally in awe. She'd never been in Times Square before. Peter nudged her and pointed to a CVS across the street.
A moment later, Matt and Audrey emerged from the subway. They looked around for the pair, and then Audrey noticed them walking to a CVS.
Claire strolled down the hair care aisle, looking at the different shampoos and hair conditioners. Normally, Peter would grab whatever was on sale, but things were different now. He had a teenage female living with him. Claire narrowed her search to a specific brand for curly hair and turned to Peter, picking up two different bottles of shampoo. One was blue and the other was pink.
"Which one should I get?" she asked.
Peter laughed, and then frowned once he realized that she was dead serious about this. This was a very important decision. "What's the difference between them other than the bottle color?" he countered.
Claire examined both bottles. "The blue one gets rid of frizzy hair and the pink one controls curls so it doesn't get too curly and frizzy," she said.
Peter took the pink one and placed it in the red basket he was carrying. Claire then turned to the conditioners section.
Audrey peeked over the aisle separating her and the aisle Claire and Peter were in. When she realized what they were doing, she looked away, tapping her hip. "They're buying shampoo and hair conditioner," she said quietly.
Matt looked over at them but they moved quickly to another aisle. It was the next aisle over, again, more hair care.
"I think we should wait outside. This is going to take awhile," he said.
Peter counted the amount of items in their small red shopping basket. Shampoo, hair conditioner, hairbrush and ehm, other feminine hygiene products. Claire noticed him looking at the basket and smiled. Whenever she shopped for any of this stuff, it was either with her mom or one of her girlfriends from school. Next time, she made a mental note to herself, when she needed to get these things, she needed to get them herself and leave Peter out of it. The last thing she wanted was to traumatize him.
They were next in line. Peter picked out each item individually while Claire checked a copy of "People" magazine. She stood, leaning against the counter, reading through the magazine. Audrey and Matt came to the front and quietly walked passed her and exited the store. Peter paid the cashier and tagged Claire. Claire put down the issue and they left the store.
Audrey and Matt sat nearby, Matt reading a newspaper and Audrey checking her cell phone. Peter and Claire passed them, walking down the street. Audrey nudged Matt; he put down the newspaper, ready to continue their stake out of the couple.
Claire stopped, staring at a window display. Peter sighed as she strolled into the store, checking out different outfits. Peter found a chair and sat down, watching Claire as she picked out various clothes. Many of them were halter-tops and jean skirts. Peter leaned back into the chair. Claire asked where the dressing rooms were and a customer representative said that they were at the back of the store.
"Peter, come on!" she called, pulling his arm.
"Why do I need to come?" he moaned.
Claire smiled. "Because I need an opinion," she said, pulling him to the back of the store. The customer rep smiled and went back to work. "I promise this won't take long."
Four hours later…
Peter Petrelli sat in the same place, the same store, waiting for Claire to try on yet another outfit. This time, she'd moved on from jean skirts and halter-tops to jeans and blouses. He looked over at the stack of clothes lying on the chair beside him. Of course, he hadn't anticipated when he offered to take Claire shopping that he'd end up waiting on her.
Finally, Claire came back with another stack of clothes. "Okay, I think that's it for now," she said. Peter sighed, thankful that this little shopping trip was over, until she spoke again. "Are there any good shoe stores around here?" Peter moaned and turned to the store clerk.
tbc