Be My Escape

Author: Estelle Stafford

Author's Note: Sorry, this is kind of rushed chapter as far as editing goes, but Happy NEW YEAR

Beta:

Chapter Five: Pieces

The news filter through the Linderman Mansion: "There are confirmed reports that Peter Petrilli has just tried to commit suicide."

Angela's glass of tea fell to the floor. Her composure broke for only second, and Mr. Linderman pretend to have not caught the moment, but he had. After the reporter added, "He seems to have miraculously survived thanks to his brother Nathan Petrelli. Nathan Petrelli is running for Senate and..." Her demeanor was back to normal and she looks over to her host, both act as though this was not significant in anyway, "Daniel, I believe one of my sons is developing an awareness for his power."

"I take it you will be leaving, which is a shame... because I was cooking a lovely roast." He says slightly disappointed and with hint of knowing something that is to come.

"Yes, I'm afraid I won't get to eat another one your delicious meals, today Daniel." She stands up gracefully and smiles politely, "Forgive me for the interruption. I do hope to continue our discussion another time." The maid lets her out and Daniel watches her disappear.

Then he walks over to a plant, gently touching it, springing the plant back to its fullness, "I see the pieces are already starting to be put in to play. I do wonder however if Peter Petrelli is a mere chess piece or a player." Daniel swirled the glass in his wine, it was quite ironic the insight he had held when his ability did not help in that matter. It was something he had learn to develop over the years, and with such wisdom came the fear of certain things, he did not believe the pieces Angela played would go exactly the way she planned. Some of her emotions she managed to keep in check just might come in play after all this time. He would just wait to see how the game finally ended, playing his part when had to. He drank the last of his wine, slowly... letting the smooth essence travel down his throat. He glances at the clock, "Speaking of chess, I believe Mrs. Smith will be coming over today, perhaps my roast will not go to a complete waste."

Jackie laughed at Claire as they headed from their class, "Oh my gosh, I can't believe you have to work with that Freakazoid." Claire glared at her as she made her way down the hall.

Melody joined in, "I...sucks to be you Claire." Claire rolled her eyes. 'Surprise, surprise', Melody was about helpful as an ice cream was to a diet. You had the excuse it was diary but really it was not helpful, with Melody you had the excuse she was sympathetic but in reality she was so....not helping.

"It is not that big of a deal. It isn't my fault the teacher assigned Zach and me to work together. It isn't like it is going to kill me. He'll come over this weekend and..." Jackie had a look of being petrified as she frozen in step, along with Melody. It took Claire a second to notice both the girls were not with her, but when she glanced over, they were staring at her like she was a ghost. "What?" Claire stopped. Searching around her to see if something was going on, she concluded nothing obvious was wrong and held her hands up, "What is it?"

"You can't be serious?" Melody came over to where Claire was, "You can't let that freak in your house."

"That is why you guys are acting like something is about to blow up. .got to be kidding me!"

"No, Claire, as your friend I'm telling you letting Zach in your house is social suicide," Melody actually sounded sincerely concerned. Yeah, definitely like ice cream.

"And maybe you don't care." Jackie stepped up to the other side of her, with her arms crossed, "but none of my friends let people like him in their house, if you do then we are no longer friends."

"This is ridiculous. It is a project for English Class, okay I'm not inviting him over for dinner or anything." Claire explained.

"Shhh..." Melody searched around her, "You never say a boy's name and dinner in the same sentence, unless you want people to think you are dating. It is like a rule or something."

Claire began to walk to her locker, "Whatever. You didn't want me to work either, but you got over it. You'll get over this."

"Oh, I'm still not over that," Jackie flipped her ponytail, putting her face in Claire's; she gave her the evil queen of popularity, eyes.

Claire took in a deep breath, the words were on her tongue as she was walking towards her locker, but --she is not sure who is lucky but somebody is--Brody is there--most likely her as he is grinning boyishly. Though, for some odd reason Claire does not have the same giddiness she had before when he usually came around.

"Hey," He greets and Melody's eyes widen with glee. She quickly latches on to Jackie's arm.

"Uh, Jackie, shouldn't we go?" Melody asked trying to give her friend Claire a moment.

Jackie gave a very feminine snarl snatched her arm out of the perky blonde's grip. "How many times do I have to tell you not grab me?" The evil head Capitan snapped at her follower, who shriveled under her gaze. "Hey Brody," She grinned as she swayed her hips a bit.

"Uh hi, Jackie," He replies while keeping his eyes on Claire. She stomps on his foot. Melody is just watching, not sure if she should go or not, now.

"I'm over here!" Jackie declares catching Brody's attention.

The boy runs a hand through his hair, "I know. I just came over to see if Claire needed help with her books." Claire closes her locker, and briefly catches Lori disappearing down the hall.

She then looks over to her side to see Jackie seemingly piss, and cannot help but seize the opportunity. She puts on her brightest smiles and then hands over her books, "Sure, my class is just down this way." She leaves Jackie seething as she sashays down the hall.

In his moment of complete awe, Hiro fell to notice he was in the middle of the street... in New York... during rush hour. Of course, the drivers of New York had no problem of making him realize it. A horn blared and a loud, "Watch were you are going moron," was shouted by some random drivers who had almost killed him. Hiro quickly dashed across the street which coincidental was right in front of a comic book store that had several array of beautifully drawn books on display, but one particular one caught his eye. This was because on the front of the cover was an image that was familiar:

Himself

"Ah," He exclaimed staring at the cover of 9th wonders, "that is me!" he shouted loudly, "That is me," he pointed at it trying to get anyone's attention, but a few people just stared at him with disbelief, while the rest continued with their everyday lives.

This however did not quell his excitement as he went inside to get his hands on a copy. His amazement increased when he saw what was inside the book, the images were mirror of what had just only happened moments ago.

"Hey, that's our best seller." Alex pointed out, coming up behind him, "How do you like it so far." Hiro told him it was good, but the entire retailer heard was a whole bunch of unrecognizable sounds, "I'm sorry," he held his hands up, and "I don't speak Japanese." Hiro frowned a bit, but then pointed to himself in a picture. "That's..." Alex was a bit surprised as the realization dawned on him, "You, isn't it?"

"Yes, Yes," He replied which came out to Alex like, "Hi, Hi,"

"Hmm, that is kind of weird." Alex stated, not sure what else to say. He could not speak Japanese, though he was curious if perhaps this guy knew the artist, but he had to get back to work because a customer called him, so he escaped.

Hiro looked slightly disappointed; he wanted to see if the guy knew anything about this comic book. He went to staring at the pictures, there were some that were him of Ando and Hiro, but they had not happened yet. He was curious as to why there were images of him that seemed to reflect earlier events but others had not happened. Suddenly it hit him, "Future," He then desperately searched through the pages to find the artist's address, "Isaac Med—enz."

If that bastard asks me to get his coffee one more time, Matt hears as a woman in a well-pressed suit walked by with several cups of coffee, she did not look too happy as she had a frown on her face; the strange thing was her lips did not move.

Another woman passed by, Okay get the groceries, pick up the kids, and then come home cooked dinner, yeah that is all I need to do today.

Several other people passed by some of them grumble, some were on the phone, but there were words heard that were not spoken.

He does it get it. I just....

She is such a brat...

I can't stand it anymore...

Different people passed by and Matt could hear various things that were said, but he was not paying attention to the fact that their lips did not always move. Matt was trying to ignore what he thought were mumbles and concentrate on his own worries. He needed to pass that test, and things with his wife had been a bit difficult lately. "Communication," he mumbles, "the therapist says we need to communicate better, it would help if Janice would at least talk to me."

Angela calmed herself before entering the hospital room, Peter's fine, he won't die, and you know that, he just came into his powers. Peter has too much hope for this world. She straighten her suit jacket as she made her way into the room and was shock to find Nathan's wife holding Peter's hand, "You didn't do it, I know you didn't," she could hear the hoarseness in Heidi's voice.

"Heidi," She called in an authority, but gentle, voice, "I'm surprise to see you here without Nathan,"

"Oh, Angela, yes well he went out to get some work done, but I'm sure he'll be back, soon." She replied stroking Peter's hand, "I just think someone should be here if...when he wakes up."

"He will wake up my dear, and I'm sure Nathan will return soon as possible as well. You should go home and get some rest."

"No, I'm fine, how are you holding up?"

Angela smiled politely, but she was not aware how fake it was, "I'm fine, dear."

"You are not," she pointed out looking at her, "Nathan is burying himself in work, just like he did when I was...and you just now came here. What were you doing that was so important?"

Angela would never tell anyone she drove out of the city to a secluded place where nobody could see her cry. She was worried, truly worried. If her plans for Gabriel Gray did not work out...Peter would... This is why she shut herself off to him, this why she treated him so cruelly, because her heart was not prepared for what might happen to him. Her dreams were never clear, but she saw both Gabriel Gray and her son involved in the explosion, and it had to be Mr. Gray, it had to be him. She reached out for Heidi's hand, "I had a pressing matter to attend to,"

"More pressing than your son,"

No, of course not, "Yes," Heidi sighed and did not say another word.

"I'm afraid while you are intelligent...I have yet to find anything indicating you have any special abilities." Dr. Suresh explained in his matter fact tone. "We have a couple more tests to run but...I believe you may just a normal young man."

Gabriel was frozen. Normal. He would be as he had ever been, a normal man working in a mundane job with a boring routine that repeated over and over in a perfect cycle. He was nobody again, just as he always ever was, no he could not be. He could not be that again. No, this could not be right, "But I was on your list!"

"This is all new to me Mr. Gray, I am afraid I will find many people who will turn out to be normal. My formula may not be quite perfect." Gabriel could feel his world shattering underneath him, the hope... that wonderful moment of hope was being stolen from him in only in a matter of seconds.

"Don't worry," Eden spoke, sensing the look of utter defeat in Gabriel, the desperation was probably crawling inside him, "There are still a couple more tests that you have to perform isn't there?" She gazes at Dr. Suresh who nods.

"Yes, perhaps I'm making my initial analysis too soon." He could not see how foolish his actions might have been as he gave Mr. Gray another ounce of hope, "I will meet with you tomorrow."

"I'm sorry, I..." Gabriel began, "I have work to do." Eden watched him as he began to disappear, she sighed, and the guy is blaming himself obviously when anyone else probably would have been just as frustrated and blame the world. She went after him.

Mohinder steps out of the taxi cab and looks at the piece of paper in his hand. It is the address where his father was supposed to be living at. He raises his head in time to watch a young woman with curly black hair walk pass him after a man in a distance.

Claire could not help the victorious grin that reached her face after Brody left. She was killing two birds with one stone; she was getting attention from the guy she liked and pissing off Jackie. Yeah, it was dangerous, considering Jackie could kill her social status with one tiny rumor, but she could not help but enjoy it. It was strange she was more excited about pissing off Jackie then finally catching Brody's attention after having a crush on him since the beginning of school. She supposed it had to do with Gabriel, not that she was attracted to him...well maybe except when he took his glasses off, and when he talks, she likes his voice, but he is way older...Where is her mind going to anyway?

She shook her head as the bell shrilled.

"Alright everyone it is time for roll call," Mrs. Smith Announced in her no nonsense tone. "Jake Andrews,"

"Here,"

"Rick Anderson,"

"Here,"

"Claire Bennet,"

"Here," She replied. Miss. Smith continued to call the names when she was done she looked up from her roll call sheet.

"Okay, now I have your tests from last week." She walked over to her desk and grabbed a stack of papers, a collective sound of groans and "I know I bombed," were heard around the room. As she laid them face down on each desk, there were sighs of relief and exclamations of 'I'm so dead' heard.

When she sat Claire's down, she did not give no indication of how she did, just like with the other students but Claire had a sense of dread, none the less. She slowly lifted up the white sheet and the thought I'm so dead ran through her head. She stare at the 69%, if she got another low score like this she was off the squad as her average would drop significantly, but of course that was not as bad as when her parents so the score. She saw in tiny ink see me after class. That was never good, never EVER. She sat through the rest of class in dread. Though, she had to appreciate Ms. Smith's sullenness, at least she could possibly avoid public humiliation. She quickly stuffed the test in her folder to hide it, she have hell to pay if anyone found out and relayed the message to Jackie.

The time passed with dread. Claire could not really concentrate on what Ms. Smith was saying. First her brain would like variable X is, but then her mind would shift focus. I hope I am not grounded for long, the bonfire is coming up. Concentrate, concentrate, Claire um...22, damn I was not even close. Wait a minute what she is talking about now? I can't believe I already worked one month worth of Saturday's at Gabriel's shop, and I'm just finally starting to make progress with him, too. Not that it is such a big deal, why do I care if I know him or not? He is kind of geek, well...in a Clark Kent way and that is kind of cute. Remember Claire he is way older than you. At least I think he is, well...he does not look that much older, really. Oh what was Ms. Smith saying about multiplying negatives? If I admit superman is handsome, does that not mean that Gabriel is hott?

Her mind drifted back in forth until class ended and She slowly approached Mrs. Smith's desk after everyone disappeared, along with some girl who was eagerly questioning the teacher about joining the math team. "Hey, you said you wanted to see me,"

"Yes," her teacher put her hands in front of her and looked seriously at Claire, "I know how much cheerleading means to you, and I know you are trying hard. I can tell by your homework."

"Yeah, I'm just really bad at math and science." She admitted twirling her hair in a nervous gesture and moving her feet a bit.

"Well then...I have a proposition for you and I believe it will ease the news to your parents as well."

"Okay, first of all I want you to get a tutor..." Claire's mind ran in panic, if she got a tutor at school Jackie would so make sure everyone knew. Argh…that would totally suck. "Now of course you can get one through the school, but I think you would benefit from somebody who has more knowledge in math beyond high school. I also have a list of services of course, if none of these options seem good to you, you present me with another, but you will need to meet with a tutor two to four hours each week and I will give you an extra point provided the tutor says you are actually trying." Claire nodded in agreement, "That will help with your grade, and I'm also thinking of an extra opportunity for all of the class."

"What's that?"

"I'll still working on the details, but it will have to do with applying math to the real world."

"Okay, so when do I have to get a tutor?"

"I'll give you a week before you come up with something." Claire left the class with a little more ease, Mrs. Smith was extremely nice, as well as fair, but still that…left Claire the dilemma of finding a tutor that would not destroy her social life, or kill her allowance, because if she had to hire someone her parents would probably make her pay for it.

Madeline watched as Claire left, she hoped she predicted the cheerleader's next move correctly, if not she have to come up with another play in this game.

"Gabriel," Eden latched onto his arm, "Hey, it is..."

He turned around glaring at her, she withdrew her hand, "I told you not to call me by first name."

"You know…I bought you dinner the other day, which at least should earn me the right to call you by your first name." She is teasing him a little bit, trying to loosen him. Feeling sorry for this guy comes more naturally then it should.

He sighs, pulling off his glasses and cleaning them. Clearly, a sign of frustration, or annoyance, "I'm sorry to be rude, but we are still not friends."

"Why not?" She asks, "we have been spending..." Eden stopped herself, "Anyway, I just wanted to make sure you were okay, you seemed a little upset and from what we talked about the other day I know you're not exactly happy about the news," She gently put a hand on his shoulder, he shrunk from it. "I'm sorry, I just...myself...I know kind of what it feels like when you just want something to change anything, but you should know changes are not always good." She said this as she caught the sight of the van in the distance. So Gabriel has ability after all, if they are here, he may wish later he was normal. God, I hope they are not going to expect me to get involved more than I am. I don't how I possibly go any deeper without causing any harm.

"Mrs. McCain it is not a simple change I wish for my life to be completely altered," He replied.

"Yeah, I get that but I'm telling you this could be one of those be careful for what you wish for things, Gabriel."

"Maybe," he agrees, but then he adds, "at this point it seems more painful to not wish." It really was, for him. It seemed hopes, and wishes was all he had these days, wishing he was special, hoping that the young Claire Bennet will become his friend and stay.

Peter stirs awake, disoriented, he remembers jumping off a rather tall building and find out that his dreams were completely wrong. He could not fly. Of course, he could not fly why he believed in such a thing— the dreams seemed so real — Nathan told him he could not fly. He jumped. He had to prove his brother wrong, he wanted to be special for once, but he was not. He was just normal, plain, Peter, as always.

Where is he? Looking around he sees a rather tired Heidi looking at him with a warm grin, "Welcome back."

"How long was I out?"

"A few days,"

"Where's Nathan?"

"He went to get me something decent to eat," she replies, "He has been here pretty much all night, in between doing things at the office."

That sounded about right, "Oh, how long have you been here?"

"A few hours, your mother just left a little while ago."

"How…" he is not sure if it wants to know, because if she is upset will feel guilty and if she is not, he will feel hurt.

"Fine," Heidi ran her hands over her skirt, flatting invisible wrinkles in it.

"And you?" he asked.

"Peter," her voice is soft, "Why are you worrying about everyone else? You're the one who fell off the building."

"I did?" He was a bit taken back and his eyes blinked several times, "I don't think that is what happened I think I--" He scrunched up his face in confusion, he could not remember.

"You tried to commit suicide," Nathan filled in while handing his wife some Chinese food. "Here you go dear," he kissed her lightly on the cheek.

"Thank you," she replied with a tired grin, she peeked inside, "Hmm...Peter would you like some?"

"Heidi I bought that for you," Nathan stated, "You need to keep your strength up, the hospital will bring something for Peter."

"I don't see why I can't share?"

"The doctors might not want Peter eating that stuff,"

"Hey aren't we getting off the subject, what do you mean I tried to kill myself?" Peter asked not wanting to see Heidi and Nathan fight. It seemed like there were some kind tension which always seemed to be there when ever Nathan strays. No...Peter did not want to think about that, he did not want to think that his big brother whom everyone looked up to was capable of cheating on his wonderful wife, but Nathan had more than once…no…he would not worry about that now.

"You did, you jumped off a skyscraper." His older brother tried to sound concern, but he doubted his worries had little to do with his brother's life, and more to do with his career.

"I feel like I'm missing something, how could I possibly survived a fall like that with no broken bones?"

"It is a miracle Peter," That tone of voice does not sound like someone who believes it was a miracle at all. He wonders what is really going on.

"Why would I try to kill myself?" Peter may dislike certain things in his life, but he never ever wanted to kill himself before...well maybe once, but that was a long time ago.

"He wouldn't," Heidi piped up, "He must have just overstepped." It was not possible in her mind and she was surprised that Nathan was so accepting of the idea. Peter was the kind of man who helped people all the time; he would not do something so...well he would not be able to help anyone that way.

Nathan looked completely disbelieving, before his expression changed and he just sigh, "I don't think so..." He ran a hand through his hair, "What were you doing up there Pete?"

"I was helping Simone with something." He recalled a conversation about some kind of medicine he had access to.

"No, what were you doing on the roof?"

"I was trying to...,"

Heidi gasped, "Fly, you were trying to fly." And Nathan looks at them like they're both crazy, even though Nathan knows, and Peter knows that he did....

Fly.

Claire shows her parents her grade, but speedily throws in the explanation of obtaining extra credit, "So all I need is to get someone to tutor me and I'll be just fine." She emphasizes this with her hands, then awaits her fate as her mother holds onto the paper with her father looking over her shoulder, adjusting his glasses to see better.

"Okay," Sandra says, "Well...this grade is bad, Claire," She frowned.

"But," Noah interjected, "Seems you got this figured out,"

Relief overcame her mixed with confusion, "That's it," She holds herself back, waiting for a 'but' of some sort or some twist.

Her father looks at his wife, "That's it, right?"

"Well, who are you going to get to tutor you?" Sandra asked.

Claire twirled her hair, "Ms. Smith said I could get somebody from school but..."

"Then everyone would know," Noah answered.

"I really don't want to hire somebody, either,"

Sandra held a teasing grin, "Because you know your father make you pay for it out of your allowance."

"Now, come on," Noah pretended to be offended, "I'm not the mean parent here,"

Claire laughed, "Only mostly,"

"Now, Clairebear, you hurt my feelings," he retorted.

"Come on, you know my favorite dad in the whole world," She replied.

"Yeah," he agreed and then is voice while loving was firm, "but your mother's right I'm not going to pay out of pocket for a tutor, you either get one from school or pay your own."

Claire shrugged her shoulders, "Could be worse, I got time to figure it out, so what's for supper?"

Black meets white on the board and it is checkmate. A pair of brown eyes looked up the board causing a pair of pale pink lips to form a smile, "It seems I have lost, again oh what a pity." Mr. Linderman looks at her with a reminiscent smile.

"I'm afraid so, Madeline." He smiled, "Do you wish to play another round with me?"

"No, not today, soon, though." She says as she picks her purse. "I have another chess match to attend to."

"I see, I must confess I have yet to understand why you insist on these matches were you clearly out-matched," Daniel points out.

"It would seems so," She stands up, "but that does little to take away from the thrill of the game." She leaves, when she is outside of the door, she is smirking, "Besides, I'm just building up for the big match, which I'm afraid my old friend...you have already lost." What she had left to lose she was ready to throw down, because she already lost the most precious thing to her once, and now she was going to do whatever it took to save him.

Author's Commentary:

This chapter is short, but I think six is longer, so it balances out. Anyhow, I know I kind of suck on the updating thing. I apologize for errors, turns out I did not send a copy to my editors like I thought, so soon there should be an edit version. Yeah I'm sorry that there wasn't much Claire and Gabriel action, I hoping to make it up, as the story goes on, I am hoping on chapters that are just almost all Gabriel and Claire, when I hit the second arc of the story. Yes, this story is going to be kind of long, if you haven't guessed yet.

Deleted Scene: Did not work because I tweaked it where Noah was included in the scene.

"How's that going anyway?" Sandra asked making her way to the kitchen to start dinner. Claire just stood back and watched as her mother pulled out various bowls, utensils, and ingredients.

"Actually, not bad, I'm making slow progress though the watch thing is a lot more interesting then I thought it be."

"Oh?" Sandra questioned pulling out the chicken on the cutting board to chop.

"Yeah, I know some of the parts, like where the spring is and the uh movement." She stated, "And Gabriel mentioned something that most old watches are off time a few seconds, especially if that don't get wind ever so often. Oh and the guy knows right away if something is off about your watch. It is kind of cool to watch."

"Really?" Sandra seemed inst rested, "Like he just looks at it?"

"Well I think he can," Claire pulled up a seat near the island, "But he usually just listens for it. It is really cool too, he can tell if it is running too fast and by how much too. I have seen him do it all the time, because I'm cashier." Sandra raised a brow.

"He trusts you with money."

"What is that so hard to believe, I can be responsible with money. I had little bit saved after all for dad's gift."

Sandra came over and gave Claire a hug from the side, "Oh I'm just teasing, so..." She let go of her daughter and went back to seasoning the chicken, "You have only a few more Saturday's to go,"

"Yep," Claire smacked her lips as she said it. "Too bad, he can't hire someone; it would not be bad for a part time job." She sighs, why she is starting to feel a little sad at the idea of not seeing Gabriel anymore.