Title: Come What May - CHAPTER 26 OF 29
 (ORIGINAL COPY!!!!)

AUTHOR: obisgirl

Rating: PG-13 (non-incest)

Characters: Peter/Claire

Summary: Five months after Peter "left" with Claude, Claire is living in the Petrelli mansion, wishing that Peter would come back to her. But every day he's gone, Claire begins to doubt that he'll come back.

Spoilers: Company Man

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine, just borrowing. All NBC's and Tim Kring's. Please don't sue!

NOTES: First half is beta'd by NYCitygurl, and then by shoduna.

Claire sniffled as she held onto her dad, remembering that it wasn't too long ago that she almost lost him. The gunshot to his chest had healed but Claire felt like her heart was breaking. Her dad would never be too far away but somehow, Claire felt like she was saying goodbye to him all over again. She didn't know how much of him she would see in the coming months. He said he would find a place to stay in the city; Angela Petrelli even offered to buy him an apartment not far from the mansion so he could still be close to Claire.

But that wasn't Hank Bennet's style.

Though Claire had to admit, after spending a day in a cold cell with Claude, she was starting to appreciate the spacious Petrelli mansion. It used to be that she would feel so lonely walking down the halls but now; they didn't bother her as much anymore. Especially since Peter would only be living down the hall from her.

"I'll never be too far away, Claire-bear," her dad promised, letting go.

Claire backed away and looked up at him hopefully, tears running down her cheeks. Mr. Bennet wiped away one. Claire sniffled again. "As long as you don't get yourself shot again," she joked solemnly.

"Only when you or Nathan are around," he joked back. "I love you, Claire,"

Claire hugged him again. "I love you dad," she cried.

Mr. Bennet hugged her back, and then let go as Claude stepped forward. Claire smiled at him one more before he went over to talk to Peter. She wandered for a moment what her dad wanted to talk to him about but considering the mood earlier, it was probably a fatherly warning to stay away from the "s" word.

"You know where to find me if you need someone to talk to, love," Claude offered.

Claire smiled, stepped forward and hugged him too. "When I came to New York, I wasn't even expecting to find you," she said, "but I guess destiny knew that I always had you and mom on my mind,"

"I never stopped thinking about you all these years, Claire," he whispered, "You'll always be my girl,"

Claire sighed as she looked up at him. "Some family," she mused, "I have a dad who can make himself invisible and a mom who can control fire,"

Claude turned around and looked over at Peter and Mr. Bennet, then turned his attention back to Claire. "I know you want to look for your mom, Claire but ---,"

"Don't," she pleaded, "I want to know stuff about her but if there were some bad things that happened between you two before you parted ways, I don't want to know about that…yet,"

Claude sighed. "All right," he agreed, "If you ever need anything, Claire…"

"I know where to find you," Claire finished, leaned up and kissed his cheek.

Claude turned back to Mr. Bennet. The two men stared hard at each other; Claire thought for a moment that they would start arguing again. Instead, Claude extended his hand to him and her dad accepted it. "Like I said, I'll never be too far away, Hank," Claude reminded him.

"You don't have to remind me, Claude," he said flatly. "Claire has my cell number,"

"I know, she gave it to me too – except that I don't have a cell phone but I'm sure I can easily find one," Claude surmised and slapped his shoulder. "Happy Father's Day, Hank,"

Hank smiled wryly, bowing, saying, "Happy Father's Day," in Japanese, shocking Claire and the rest of the Petrelli's. Once he realized that he hadn't spoken Japanese in front of Claire before, Mr. Bennet looked over at her and winked.

"I took Japanese in high school," he offered but Claude only laughed, going outside.

Claire went outside too and hugged Claude one more time before he made himself invisible. She didn't know which way he went but before she head back inside she spotted an invisible hand lifting someone's cell phone from their pocket. She shrugged and turned around, facing her other dad.

"This isn't goodbye, Claire," her dad reminded her.

"I know," she mused and hugged him again. "See ya later,"

Peter tenderly kissed Claire's neck as she tried to make her back into her room, to start her research of her biological mom. She had her name, Meredith Gordon, and knew from her dad and Claude that she "died" in a fire but Peter's kisses were making it hard for her to concentrate on that.

"Peter, I need to use my computer so I can start researching my bio-mom," she said as he kissed her neck.

"Do you have to do that right now, though? I mean, you have a lot of time to get started," he pleaded, "Just a few more minutes?"

"I know but this is really important to me, Peter," she said and managed to free herself from his arms, going to her computer.

Peter came in and followed her to the computer. She was about to pull up the death records for Odessa, Texas when Peter spotted an interesting news headline. "Hey, click on that link," he said, pointing to it.

Claire shrugged and clicked on it, pulling up the full story. It read as follows:

Comic Book Artist, Isaac Mendez, died at age 27; Funeral to be held tomorrow

Claire frowned, reading through the title of the article and then looked back at Peter. He was quiet for a long time; he knew he was responsible for Isaac's death and even though he wasn't quite himself when it happened, it still haunted him. "I know I probably shouldn't even suggest this, but I think we should go to the funeral," Claire offered.

"What? Are you crazy?" Peter cried, backing away. "Claire, I killed him…don't you think attending his funeral will be a little weird?"

She shrugged, and swiveled her chair around to face him. "Maybe, but no one else knows that you were the one who did it," she reasoned, "And despite the unfriendly feelings between you two, Peter, we were still friends. He was my friend, and I need to say goodbye to him,"

"I don't know if I can go…"

"You don't have to if you don't want too but I think you need to," Claire mused, "He was like us, Peter. He had an ability, a very strong one to see the future, and I think we owe to him – as his friends – to say goodbye,"

Peter shrugged. "You Claire, maybe," he said, "He liked you although he more than liked you. He was in love with you,"

Claire turned around and read down to the bottom of the story, where it stated when and where the funeral was going to be. "I did love him, Peter," she whispered, "But I only loved him as a friend…I admired his ability too,"

"I could paint the future if I wanted," Peter muttered, feeling somewhat jealous.

Claire smirked. "Yeah, and what would that be like? Stick figures?" she joked. Peter frowned and Claire laughed, going over to him and kissed him. "I'm sorry,"

"Ah! They are stick figures," he admitted, "but I could practice,"

Claire draped her arms around Peter's neck and she smiled. "But I bet they're cute stick figures," she said, "Not the childish, cartoon type though,"

"Cute?" Peter questioned. Claire laughed and then sighed, looking thoughtfully at Peter. He nodded. "All right, I'll attend Isaac's funeral with you,"

"Good," she piped, "We all need some healing, and I was going to drag you with me anyway,"

tbc