Title: Finding Destiny Part 3

Author: Calie

Summary: Takes place after How to Stop and Exploding Man. Everyone's gone on with their lives, trying to forget what happened, but the determination of one girl will change that. AU only because Claire it not related to any of the Peterelli's. ClairePeter.

"Could this be any creepier?" Claire mumbled under her breath. When she and Hiro had reappeared they found themselves in a darkened unused warehouse.

"Very scary." Hiro agreed and pulled out his sword. "Like a movie."

Regardless of the situation she smiled at his comment. "He's got to be here. This is the only building in the area."

"Maybe he is gone. Maybe he knew we were coming."

"Let's finish scoping it out. If we can't find any evidence of Peter I will call Dr. Suresh." That wouldn't be needed though. Claire gasped as an invisible forced surrounded her neck. It couldn't be Peter. She thought for months what he might be like but she never believed that he would hurt her.

Hiro turned to Claire and before he even had time to react her body flew across the building and was impaled on a piece of sheet metal. "Claire!"

"No!" Claire yelled and tried to push herself off of the metal but the jagged edges caught on her body.

Before Hiro even turned he felt the presence of someone behind him. It wasn't hard to notice that by the look in the mans eyes he intended Hiro harm. With a yell he slid his sword through the mans stomach. It didn't quite cause the effect he had been hoping for.

"He can't die! Get out of here!" Claire struggled to push herself off the metal but only found herself more frustrated and panicked by her inability to free herself.

Hiro turned to Claire then back to Peter before disappearing.

Just as Hiro disappeared so did Peter and for a moment she feared Peter followed him but when he reappeared standing over her she gasped. It wasn't her Peter. "Peter." He grabbed the collar of her jacket and yanked our off of the metal. It hadn't hurt but it sure had pulled on her insides pretty hard. "Fuck!"

"What do you want?"

"What do I want? Peter, where have you been?" Claire looked down to her stomach and frowned. "Look what you did to me! You killed me!"

"You can't die." He said harshly and turned away from her.

"You choked me and threw me onto that thing." He continued walking from her and she frowned. "Idiot." Determined not to let him go she followed. It suddenly occurred to her that Hiro would most likely be showing back up and she had a feeling that wouldn't help matters. As quietly as possible she pulled out her cell phone and dialed Suresh's number. It hadn't even rang before he answered. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Well for now. I'll call you back." Claire hung up the phone without a response and continued down the path Peter had gone. In a dark corner she found him sitting against a wall and watching her. "Why the hell did you do that? Like you couldn't tell it was me." When he didn't say anything she tried to let go of her anger and instead focused on Peter. "Peter." His eyes left hers and she knew he was going to avoid saying anything to her.

"Get out."

"No, I've went through a lot of trouble to find you. I'm not leaving now." She was unsure of where to even begin. She wanted to ask him to come back to New York but she had a feeling he would resist that. Then there was the matter of his state of mind. He didn't look like he was doing all that well and that concerned her. All she wanted was for her Peter to come back.

"Your broadcasting your thoughts so loud is giving me a fucking headache. No I'm not going back to New York, you're right, my state of mind isn't all that well, and your Peter is long gone." A look of hurt came over her face that he should have regretted but he wouldn't let himself. It hadn't been his intention to choke her and throw her. His powers were so jumbled nothing came through clearly anymore. All he knew was that someone was coming but he couldn't quite figure out who.

"Fine, but that doesn't mean I still don't care. I came all this way to help you Peter." Still his eyes didn't meet hers so she decided to try another tactic. She moved slowly towards him, as if approaching a small animal, then sat down in front of him. "What are you going to do? Keep running? You'll never get this sorted out on your own."

That wasn't totally the truth, Peter was starting to get control of himself. If he could just get a break from absorbing more power he might be okay. Not just because of what happened to him before but because it ate at what was left of him until he feared there would be nothing of himself left. "I know what you want and the answer is no Claire. Get out of here."

"Well then you must know I'm not leaving until you give me something Peter. I'm not going to leave here empty handed."

Unfortunately, she was telling the truth. He could tell what she had gone through to find him and had no intention of leaving. "Then you'll be here a while."

"Peter, just let me try and help you. You've already absorbed my power so I'm no threat to you and I can't die. Plus we had something Peter remember? Remember that day when we were waiting for Ted, Matt, and my dad. Do you remember what I told you?"

"Yes I remember. You said I made you feel like you belong. Look at me Claire. Take a good look at me. Do you think I really want to belong to this freak show anymore?" He could feel her hurt coming off of her in waves but that's what she needed. She had all these illusions of saving him that he needed to make her realize weren't real.

"You don't have a choice. When I tried to leave, to lead a normal life you told me I had a destiny, that I was part of something. Just because it's you wanting to leave this time doesn't make it any different." How many times are you going to lie to me Peter?

It was his turn to be stung by her words but he tried not to let it phase him for long. It didn't really matter how he felt, he needed to stay away, from everyone. "I was wrong."

"No." The last thing she would believe was that he had been wrong. In a risky attempt to try to convince him other wise she scooted closer between his legs. "Peter you weren't wrong."

"Really? Nathan's dead isn't he? I was wrong about something."

The pain in his voice was so obvious to Claire's ears that it made her hurt for him. "No you weren't. You did everything you could. You did more than anyone Peter. Nathan died to save people, to save you from having the guilt of killing people."

Peter dropped his head back against the wall and groaned. "What do you want Claire."

"I want you to let me help you. I want you to come back with me." He looked at her again and she knew it was going to be hard to convince him to return with her.

"Do you not remember what I did to you? I can't separate my powers well enough to use one properly. I knew someone was coming to try to get me but I couldn't tell who. I'm still a danger to people Claire, why can't you understand that?" She refused to believe that he knew. He could hear her thoughts. She needed him to be there for her. It only made it harder to turn her away knowing that she depended on him so much and he couldn't be there for her.

"I can. But I also can't leave you here." He rested his head against the wall again but she wasn't going to let him avoid her any longer. She brought her hands up to his cheeks and pulled his head down to look at her. "I will not leave you here Peter. I can't leave knowing what you are going through. People need you, and I need you more."

"You don't understand." Her gaze was tearful and he could feel the walls he put up breaking as her thoughts and emotions started to overtake him.

"No I don't. I have no idea what your going through Peter and I'm sorry. But I know your not a bad person and you don't deserve to live like this." Gently, Claire brushed his long hair away from his face and behind his ears. "Peter."

"Stop it." It was like what Peter imagined a panic attack felt like. For him though his powers became jumbled and he couldn't concentrate on any one thing, he couldn't think. All he had heard was her voice in his head begging him not to leave her. He couldn't block it out and he could feel all the walls he had built up over the past few months crumbling down under her strong emotions.

"Hey, hey, look at me." He didn't seem to be hearing her though. Claire tightened her hold on his face and forced him to look directly at her. "Look at me Peter. I'm not leaving you. So if your blowing up or about to pass out I'm staying here. So save me the trouble of having to lug your heavy body around and get a hold of yourself, please." Her words were supposed to be firm but when her voice started to break she knew they hadn't come out as she had intended.

It had taken so long to harden his mind to people then she walked back into his life and talked to him for just ten minutes and he was breaking down again.

It was when he began hyper ventilating that Claire really began to panic. She had tried talking him through it but he didn't seem to be hearing anything she said. Then just as quickly as it had started it stopped. His eyes drooped closed and she struggled to catch him before he fell over. "Alright then." Claire scooted next to him and pulled him onto her lap. Once he was situated in what looked to be a comfortable position she sat there in silence, clinging to him. "Peter." The tears that had been threatening to spill earlier were unavoidable now that he was passed out. It had been so long since Claire had seen Peter and to have her hero in her arms so broken she didn't quite know what to do. The first step was to get him out of there. There was no way she was going to desert him in the condition he was in. The phone hardly rang before Suresh picked up. "Tell Hiro to come back. But get everyone out but Niki. I don't know how he is going to react and the last thing he needs is to absorb more powers." Claire paused before making one more request. "And I need a bed ready. He's out cold."