Pairing: Claire/Sylar

Theme: Change

Dimension: Alternate

Word Count: 1,153

Change

The persistent little hand on Claire's left shoulder slowly but surely drug her out of the wonderfully gentle arms of sleep. The brunette sighed deeply and struggled to sit up as her son continued to pester her.

"Momma, Momma! I HAVE to show you something. MOM!"

"Shush, Noah! Daddy is still sleeping." Sylar rolled away from her, still breathing deeply. He looked almost gentle in sleep, but he was as grumpy as a bear when awoken. Claire gently slid out of bed and reached for her blue robe. She toed into her slippers and followed the jumpy little body that was her son. As they made it into the hall, Noah let out a war whoop and thundered down the hallway.

She might have been nearing thirty, but Claire was still a teenager for all it was worth. She groaned and rubbed her eyes, yawning deeply. The work at the Company had kept her up well into the night, and if it hadn't been for Sylar picking up the slack, she didn't how things would work out.

She trudged down the stairs, noticing for the first time that Noah's general noise and commotion had stopped. Whatever he'd been so desperate to show her must have come second to his ever-changing curiosity.

"Noah?" No answer. He must have gone to find Mister Muggles. The dog in question suddenly darted out into her path, startling her.

"Arf, arf!" The little Pomeranian said indignantly. The dog continued on his way in a huff. For some reason the annoying ball of fluff was absolutely enamored with Sylar and found it to be necessary to wake the man every morning. Claire rolled her eyes as he trounced up the stairs while she moved to the kitchen to set up a pot of coffee.

"Noah! Time for breakfast!" still no answer. By this time the young mother was getting irritated. "Young man, if you don't get in here in thirty seconds-"

"Arf, arf!" Claire looked down to see Mister Muggles balancing on his hind legs at her feet.

"Muggles? Wha-"

"Why do you always find it funny to yell the house down so early in the morning?" Sylar slumped down the stairs in his red pajama pants, scratching the dark stubble on his face while cradling a very happy Mister Muggles in the crook of his other arm.

"Muggles?!" Sylar looked at her oddly and set down the dog. Claire picked up the one at her feet. "Noah!" She shouted again. She couldn't imagine how he'd managed to get another dog in this house-

Suddenly her Muggles began to change. It took all the years of training she had not to drop the shifting dog. The weight difference was drastic, and Claire struggled to hold on as the change completed. There, sitting in her arms with a familiar smirk on his face, was Noah. His hazel eyes looked into her green ones with excitement and expectation.

"Noah… how did you-"

"Mister Muggles showed me!"

"What? How could Mister Muggles-"

"He acted like a dog, so I did, and then I became a dog!" Sylar moved forwards, sensing his wife was beginning to become agitated. He gently but firmly removed the child from her arms.

"When did you learn this, Buddy?"

"Yesterday… am I in trouble?"

"No! No, baby. You're not in trouble at all, it's just that I'm shocked you've manifested so soon," Claire rushed to assure her son as his eyes welled up with tears. The tears vanished as he bounced in Sylar's grip.

"Is Muggles all you can do, son?" Claire smacked her husband and he glared at her.

"Nope! I can be anything. Wanna see?"

"Yes." SMACK! Sylar glared at Claire again, but moved out of her strike range.

"Why don't you show me while Mommy makes breakfast?"

"Waffles? With chocolate chips?" The look from both boys had Claire tapping her foot and finally giving up with a shrug.

"Fine, But nothing weird and crazy, Sylar." She got a quick kiss for her trouble as her husband and son disappeared out the door. She moved quickly to the window an watched as Sylar set Noah down in the grass in the middle of their yard. It was early summer, and the pool had just been cleaned and was ready for swimming, and from the look on Noah's mischievous face, that was where he was headed. Claire was a mother first and foremost, so when she saw Noah launching himself off the side of their very deep pool, she rushed out the door to stop her son from drowning himself.

"NOAH!" She was preparing to go in after him when Sylar lashed out and grasped her arm. She tried to shake him off, looking at him as if he were the monster from so long ago.

"Claire, relax. Watch him." Sylar kept a grip on her arm, but she was focusing on the pool with growing terror. Noah had not surfaced, and Sylar was just standing there! She turned to wrench herself from his grip when a splash and the squeal of a dolphin stopped her. Her son was now a small gray dolphin, swimming around and jumping in the air to do flips and splash his parents silly.

"Look at him, Claire. Do you see how powerful he is? He's not even ten years old and already he can change into any animal he can see. Notice how he's adapted the dolphin's body to adapt and survive in chlorine." The awe in Sylar's voice was strong, and as Claire watched her child, pride began to swell up in her chest.

"He really is something, isn't he?"

"Of course he is! He's a Gray!" Claire yanked Sylar to her, wrapping her arms around his middle as his left arm draped across her shoulders. "Did you really think I'd ever let our son be in danger? I put an air bubble around his head when he went under. He wasn't in danger, Claire. You've got to trust me." She looked up into his face with shame on her own.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you, I was just so worried. He's my baby." She got a squeeze.

"He's my baby, too. But right now, our baby is trying to turn himself into a ten ton Megladon. Noah!"

Noah was very quick to learn and control his ability. Within months he could seamlessly shift into any animal he focused on, including those that weren't real. This did sometimes get him into trouble when he decided to show off.

When the Gray family went to the Petrelli estate for a cookout, Noah decided to start the grill with a good burst of Dragon flame. He missed the grill altogether and set fire to Angela's prized roses. Peter laughed so hard that he nearly choked on a chip and Nathan mumbled about terrible teen years to come. Claire and Sylar looked on, one with proud embarrassment, the other with vindictive glee. Angela could never prove it, but both Sylar and Peter were suspected of having helped Noah "aim" at said flowers.

It also didn't help matters when Noah proved to be a faster flyer than Nathan and Peter combined, but that is another story altogether.

People seem to like Noah, so let me know what you think!