Chapter Seven: Amoureux

Peter sat next to Claire on Simone's sofa and struggled not to blush. Unlike the rest of his family, his emotions could always be read on his face; he was a horrible liar. It'd often gotten him into trouble during his childhood, and had even plagued him as an adult. One such instance of plaguing was Simone.

He'd broken up with her over the phone, and she hadn't taken the news very well.

As she glared down her perfect nose at him and Claire, Peter honestly couldn't remember why he'd ever thought he'd loved her. Maybe her regal bearing and sly eyes had attracted him at one point, but it didn't any more. Now he was more attracted to tan skin and pouting lips, to short but slim limbs and long curling blonde hair.

"Peter, why are you in my father's apartment...naked?" Simone's voice was soft but clearly angry.

"He's not really naked," Claire noted with an evil grin. "He's wearing boxers."

Simone turned those cat-eyes on Claire and practically hissed at her when she replied. "Semantics. The point is, you're both trespassing and I'd like to know why."

"Simone-"

"We no more want to be here," Claire smiled and her soft Southern voice became sharp as her eyes narrowed at her opponent, "than you want us here. In fact, if you don't mind," her words were sweet as sugar but the tone was pure venom, "we'll leave now."

Simone glared down her nose at Claire, who sat on the thousand-dollar French sofa wearing only a button-down shirt and a pair of Peter's boxers. Despite the situation, she sat there with all the grace of the Queen and her face held none of the embarrassment of Peter's.

Claire glared back at her and didn't let on how her stomach was churning and her mind was spinning. True, the woman across from her was beautiful and above reproach, her clothes worth hundreds of dollars and her attitude reflected it all. She had diamonds in her ears, platinum on her fingers, and Gucci on her body; she didn't have Peter at her side, however. Claire had swept Peter away from this creature across from her, which only showed who the better woman was.

Peter wrapped an arm around Claire's waist and brought her close enough to whisper in her ear. "Go grab our things from the bathroom. I guess we'll be leaving in a minute."

Claire started to shake her head, to refuse to leave Peter alone with the she-wolf across from them, but the serious look on his face brooked no argument. With one last hair-toss and glare, she left the former couple alone and returned to the bathroom to grab their dirty clothing.

"I'm sorry for just dropping in on you like this. We couldn't go anywhere else looking like we did."

Simone sighed and let go of the tension that caused her to snarl and snipe, apparently caused by the presence of Peter's new girlfriend. "What happened?"

"Honestly?" Peter asked with his signature crooked grin. "Claire's dad tried to kick my ass and we had to get out of there really fast. Had a bit of a tumble."

Simone pressed her tongue to her cheek and fought not to grin. "Maybe if you weren't subverting the children, you wouldn't get chased with a shotgun, Peter."

"Hardee-har-har. She's not a child."

Simone stood and brushed invisible wrinkles from her skirt. "She's got spunk, I'll give you that." She went and grabbed a bottle of water from the mini-fridge hidden under one of the tables. Sipping slowly, she turned and stared at her friend. "So, that's the cheerleader, huh?"

Peter nodded. "The one I had to save." He grinned sheepishly and explained, "I saved her."

Simone raised one eyebrow mockingly. "Seems like you did more than just save her."

Peter had no response for that little snipe. He could only grin and shrug.

Simone shrugged and sat back down across from him. "I assume you're heading over to Isaac's when you leave here?" She waited for Peter to nod, before continuing. "I'll join you. We can take my car. That'll forestall any more..." she gestured to his state of undress, "awkward questions."

Isaac's loft was perpetually dimly lit, but Claire didn't mind. The shadows gave the room an atmosphere that was both fragile and foreboding. It fit the idea of a prophetic painter perfectly. She could easily see Isaac's gaunt figure weaving back and forth before a large blank canvas, his eyes unfocused as he reached for his brush and began. She could imagine the various speeds and ways he would paint, fast and with sure strokes or slow with carefully precise contours.

She hadn't imagined, however, just how attractive Isaac would be. For some reason, she'd always imagined Isaac to look like that old painter that used to be on T.V., the one with the afro and the oddly charismatic voice. In reality, Isaac was not that much older than her and had all the makings of a heartthrob.

These, of course, were observations she kept to herself.

Peter introduced everyone and Claire greeted them with a shy smile. Hiro and Ando were somewhat difficult to understand but friendly. Isaac spared her only a small smile before he approached Simone and spoke quietly with her. Peter glanced at them but showed no anger or pain over the reunited couple and took Claire's hand to lead her to the paintings displayed on easels near the window.

He pointed to one that showed a blonde in a cheerleading uniform running up a set of stairs, painted in a foreboding way that kept the painting from being bland. The sense of threat was clear and present in it and Claire studied the figure closely before gasping. "That's supposed to be me?"

Peter nodded, and pulled her over to the next painting. It was a close-up of the Cheerleader's face, shock and fear making her eyes comically wide. Without speaking, they continued on down the row of paintings, looking at each and not speaking. The last one wasn't of the Cheerleader, but rather was of a sword-wielding man facing a dinosaur. Hiro popped his head between Claire and Peter's and said excitedly, "That's me! I get sword and I fight dragon!"

"Uh," Claire said uncertainly, "I think that's a T. Rex."

Ando shrugged and pulled Hiro out of Claire and Peter's 'personal space'. "Dinosaur, dragon? Same difference."

Claire giggled and turned to the small Japanese men. "Not really."

Peter wished he could let the light-hearted first meeting continue, but it was time to get down to business. "Isaac! I need to talk to everyone about something."

They all met somewhere in the middle of the studio, standing in a semi-circle around the painting of an "exploding man". Peter stared down at the painting, recognizing himself in the obscure picture. Claire slid her arm around his waist and waited for him to speak.

"Day before last I ran into someone else like us. He had certain abilities."

Hiro's expression which had wavered somewhere around "expectant" shot up into "joyous" within seconds. "What can he do?"

"He can turn himself invisible. Um, I followed him back to his place, which turned out to be the roof of the Deveaux Building. I was hoping I'd run into him when Claire and I arrived but he wasn't there."

Isaac sat on a small stool and thought of the small painting he'd finished several days ago. In it, Peter was leaning against a car but the lower half of his body was fading into nothingness. Peter running into the "Invisible Man" put things into perspective.

"We had a tussle and he threw me off a building."

"Peter!" Claire gasped, for he had not told her that part of the story.

He ignored her and continued. "When I hit the ground, I had a vision. It was kind of how I felt when I was using Isaac's abilities but different. Instead of just seeing snapshots of the future, I was..." His voice trailed off.

Claire gripped his hand tightly. "You were what?"

He shook himself mentally and looked down into Claire's eyes. "I was living it. I was in the middle of New York; it had to be about noon but there was no one around. My hands were glowing and suddenly you all appeared and were running towards me. Then, as quickly as you'd appeared, you all began to run away. All except my brother, Nathan. My hands were glowing brighter than before, and it was spreading through my body."

"What happened?" Hiro asked in his hesitant English.

"I exploded."

They all stared at Peter in awe, shifting their gaze to the painting next to him at the same time.

Peter swallowed his nerves and gazed at them all, his friends and his lover. "I'm the bomb."

Hiro's brow was knotted up as his mind boggled at the task before them. "How do we stop an exploding man?"

Ando posed a better question. "What does this all have to do with Sylar?"