Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
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Getting a B.A. in Social Science wasn't something that anyone ever hopes for. It was a mushy degree and Nathan hated the way it squished in his mouth when his associates asked what Claire was majoring in. But that's what NYU's online program offered, and that's what she was going to get.
NYU was not as prestigious as William and Mary, and Claire cried bitterly when she had to transfer. But she had seemed to understand, had nodded when Nathan and Bennet presented their game plan.
Claire would live with Nathan, like she asked to, do NYU online, and then…who knew. It was too far away to say. They just both knew that Claire couldn't continue to go to school in another state, to live alone. Not while she was pregnant, let alone when the baby actually came.
The online program was easy. Claire moped around the house a few weeks until Heidi bought her a gym pass and a personal trainer that she had used with the last boy. The exercise seemed to help, though Claire still refused to leave the house unless she had to.
Claire was six months or so along. Still didn't look pregnant, unless she pulled her clothes close to her body. Which she never did.
Bennet was still pretty angry with Claire, though he and his wife telephoned regularly on Wednesday afternoons, came out to visit once a month. Heidi noticed that there was still a stilted awkwardness there, mostly stemming from the fact that, well...
Claire…still wasn't speaking on the issue that interested the Bennet's (and the Petrelli's) very much.
Hadn't ever, in fact. On the first day she had come to their home, Nathan had told her seriously that this wasn't a game and that he needed to know, needed to know who the father was. That at the very least the father deserved to know that he had a child somewhere.
Claire had shook her head slowly, and refused to answer, deaf to all of Nathan's impassioned pleadings and logical arguments, though near the end a tear had snaked slowly down her cheek.
At that Heidi had all but forced Nathan into the kitchen, and hissed at him savagely that something very bad might have happened to Claire and that if he could act like a father instead of a monster Claire might eventually confide in him.
So the subject was forbidden, stricken from all conversation. Mrs. Petrelli made a few comments at first; ones that made Claire's shoulders visibly shrink into her seat. Heidi tried never to cross her mother-in-law unless it was necessary, but she'd saved up a few years of righteous indignance and made it very clear that the subject of the baby's father was off limits.
Heidi liked the girl. She didn't know why she had liked her so much from the first minute she'd set eyes on her. She should have hated her. She had a right to hate her. But she didn't. Maybe it was the soft spot for the downtrodden that she'd always had, but Claire was a cause that Heidi began to champion.
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It was too late for an abortion, obviously. Adoption was mentioned, briefly. Claire flatly and vehemently refused, and no one tried to talk her out of it.
So Nathan found a doctor, a good one. Claire had been responsible enough to find a clinic in Williamsburg while she was there, before they'd all known. When it was her secret.
But the doctor in New York was one of the best in the City, the best money could buy. He carefully tracked Claire's progress, and announced a due date in late August.
This was all second-hand of course. Claire wouldn't let anyone come with her to appointments.
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Nathan told Peter about Claire's pregnancy during one of their sporadic phone calls. Peter hadn't gotten angry like he thought he would. Just seemed sad and…disappointed? Perhaps. Which was understandable, to Nathan. They'd all hoped for something better than this for Claire.
Peter came as soon as he heard, his smile open, or as open as he could make it. She jumped into his arms when he walked through Nathan's door, hadn't even let him drop the bag that was over his shoulder.
They had a nice visit. He took her to their old haunts, the places they'd gone when they had both been living in New York. They went to movies and long lunches that she declared to be 'gut-bursting'. He ordered dessert, even though he didn't like it very much. Being pregnant deserved extra calories, he'd said, as he nudged the little dish of panna cotta toward her.
He took several quiet walks with his niece around the block, the crisp spring air biting at their cheeks. He'd asked her carefully if she felt prepared, and she'd nodded sedately.
Of course he wanted to ask who the father was, but he didn't. She never told him anything until she was ready to. He had learned that years ago. Plus he knew that she'd probably been ridden pretty hard by the rest of the family, and Peter figured that him yelling was the last thing she needed.
Peter wanted desperately to know what asshole, what unthinking bastard had done this to her. Because whoever the guy was he was he sure as hell hadn't stuck around to see the aftermath.
Nathan had suggested Heidi's theory about the very bad to his brother, and Peter barely kept his temper at the thought of someone…taking advantage of Claire.
He had to believe that she would tell him if that were the case, though. He had to believe that she'd give him the details eventually…when she wanted to.
But Claire didn't seem sad about it – didn't seem upset or ashamed. Rather she seemed proud and loving, and rested her little hands on her middle, even though there wasn't much to show, really. She didn't look very pregnant at all.
She had let Peter touch her middle, briefly, and he'd felt the small bump, the pressing warmness that was so foreign to him. But not unlikable.
The closest he got to asking was the day before he left. Before he got on that plane, he was going to ask her. Because what could it hurt, at that point?
All his courage died, though, when she grasped onto his arms abruptly in the terminal, and thanked him sincerely for coming. She said that she'd needed his visit, needed him to be kind to her. Because no one else was, really.
Of course, he'd said, and told her that he would always be there for her.
She got choked up for a minute, and wiped a tear off her cheek quickly. She probably hoped that he wouldn't notice but he did.
She took a deep breath and then told him that she was ready and prepared to raise this child on her own, but that…but that she hoped that he would be around. For her and her baby. That she knew she could do it all on her own, but she didn't want to.
Peter nodded and wrapped his arm around her, and told her that he'd do anything, everything he could to help with the baby. Whatever she asked.
Just be here, she said.
You got it, he replied.
She'd smiled and nodded and tucked her hands deeper into her jeans. And then she switched gears abruptly and teased him about his hair, tugging on a piece that was tucked behind his ear.
When are you gonna get a haircut, scruffy, is what she said. And she patted his head, smoothed his hair back down, her lips smiling at him
He smiled back, sort of, and then looked away quickly.
