Pairing: Claire/Sylar
Theme: Family Vacation
Dimension: Alternate
Word Count: 988
Family Vacation
Noah Gray's family was full of freaks. He knew this for certain. He had two brothers and a sister each with powers of their own, not to mention his all powerful father and his immortal teenage mother. Noah sighed deeply and slouched further in his seat. They had all piled into the family's van for a cross country vacation from their home in Costa Verde to the Petrelli compound in New York City, just in time for the annual family reunion.
His father was driving again, singing along quietly to the sound of some old band from the eighties. His mother was sitting in the front seat, currently trying to run interference with the twins, who were sitting just behind her.
"Sandy, Peter! Stop fighting over that game or it comes up here with me!"
"But I had it first! Pete forgot his at home. That's sooo uncool!" Sandra Gray was a carbon copy of their mother with her father's eyes. She'd been born with telekinesis, and used it as often as possible.
"Don't argue with your mother. You've had that thing for over an hour. Hand it over to Peter." When Gabriel Gray spoke in that tone his children knew to obey. It was obvious in the way he gripped the wheel that Gabriel was getting tired. They'd driven all across the desert and farmland to reach their destination. It went without saying that the Gray family patriarch could only take so many flat tires, squealing kids and cramped quarters.
Noah had it on good authority that his father was heavily bribed and sedated, and he didn't know which was worse. But, if dad could still drive and had a smile plastered to his face, then whatever mom had promised him in order for him to be good was their business.
Sandra sighed angrily and all but tossed the game to her twin. Peter was more like his father with dark hair and a brooding personality, but he had inherited his mother's sparkling green eyes. Girls were already flocking to him. Peter controlled time, and was currently training with a Japanese man named Hiro. The game missed Peter's hand, but Noah caught it before it hit the last of the family, a four month old boy named Nathan.
"Watch it, Sandra!" The girl in question stuck out her tongue and turned away with a huff. Noah shook his head with a sigh and handed the game to Peter. Nathan squirmed in his seat and cooed, happily reaching for Noah. No one was for sure what the child's power was yet, but Noah could sense that he would be a terrible force to reckon with.
Claire turned in her seat and smiled at her oldest son. "How are you doing, Noah?" The boy shrugged.
"How much longer till we get there?"
"Yeah! Are we there yet?" That was Sandy. Noah noticed his father grip the wheel in an effort to remain calm.
"No."
"When are we going to be there?"
"Fifteen hours, nineteen minutes and forty-five seconds. We're just coming into St. Louis," Gabriel growled. Noah sighed and tried very hard not to allow his stress to show. He wasn't used to being cooped up in an enclosed space for very long and both of his parents had forbidden him to race alongside or above the car in any animal form. There was a silence for all of five seconds before Sandy started in again.
"Are we there yet?"
"No, Sandra." Wow. Gabriel was a big softy when it came to his only daughter, but when he said her full name... Well, Noah couldn't fault her for not having the good sense God gave their pet dog back home.
"Are we there yet now?"
"No."
"Now?"
"NO." The wheel groaned under the pressure of his Gabriel's fingers.
"How about now?" Noah was sure his sister was dead meat, but at that moment Claire turned and gave her daughter a winning smile.
"We'll be there before you know it. I remember when your Gran used to make all of us pile into our old sedan. We'd go from one end of the California coast to the other in one summer. I thought I'd be happy if I never saw your Uncle Lyle again after that." Noah smiled at his mother's laughter. He noticed his father taking a hand off the wheel and catching one of hers. The two of them were never far apart and Noah could sense that they had an amazing back story. He just hoped that when he found a chick, his relationship wouldn't be quite so complicated.
"Daddy, I've gotta pee!"
"Me too!" strange how both Peter and Sandy always had to do stuff at the same time…
"We'll stop further down the road. Can you hold it until then?"
"NO!" And then, of course, Nathan began to wail.
The family had never seen such a powerful storm spring up out of nowhere, but as soon as hail the size of quarters began to pound the car, Noah, Sandy and Peter were all turned around and made faces and funny noises as they attempted to calm their brother. Nathan only screamed louder.
The wind picked up and thunder boomed in angry answer to the little boy. Gabriel jerked the car onto the nearest exit and Claire was clambering over her children to get to Nathan. She unbuckled him and rocked him, speaking softly and trying to catch his attention as Gabriel fought to control the car. Noah crawled into the back, talking to his brother while trying to calm the twins.
"Hey, kiddo! It's okay. You're fine… look at big brother!" Noah turned himself into a bouncing dog that looked like Mister Muggles and hopped around in an attempt to garner some laughs. When Nathan saw him, the tears stopped and he began to giggle. The storm died as quickly as it had come up while the wind returned to a gentle breeze. Gabriel turned the car into a parking lot and reached for the twins, who still needed to pee. He ushered them into the store as fast as he could.
When Nathan was calm, Claire looked at Noah and smiled. He blushed and turned away.
"Don't ever tell anyone I turned into a dog and bounced around like Gran's showdog!" He slid out of the car and headed into the store. His family was full of freaks. But then again, he was kinda okay with that.
This was just kinda slapstick… so tell me what you think!