Disclaimer: If you recognise it, I don't own it.
"Dad, can I talk to you for a second?"
Claire tries to keep her voice light, but she widens her eyes significantly and glances towards the office. Her dad picks up on it.
"Sure," he says, throwing his napkin down on the breakfast table, "Can we talk while I work?"
Lyle and Claire's mom don't notice anything out of the ordinary as Claire follows her dad into the office. He's always 'working' on the computer, sending and receiving cryptic emails in the only windowless – and therefore safe – room in the house.
"Peter's back," she says, as soon as he closes the door. "He's alive, he's upstairs in my room, but he doesn't know who he is. He doesn't know who I am, and he's wearing that symbol – that necklace the Haitian used to wear."
Dad stares at her for a second, then his eyes flicker around the room and he gets that look she recognises, the one that means he's coming up with a plan.
He doesn't ask any stupid questions. "Your curtains should be open by now. Can he go invisible?"
"No, I don't think he can do anything anymore. He did teleport here, but he doesn't know how he did it."
"Okay. We're going to go upstairs, and you're going to send Peter into my room."
"How - ?" Claire doesn't see how this is going to fit in with the carefully normal appearance they've been trying to keep up.
"Follow my lead, and act natural."
Claire follows her dad out into the kitchen, where he casually pours himself a cup of coffee. "When you're the new kid," he says, with the air of continuing a conversation, "people are going to test you. But all you have to do is be yourself, and I'm sure they'll - "
Making his way around the counter, Dad knocks his elbow on Lyle's schoolbag, and coffee splashes all over his shirt. "Oh, goddamnit," he exclaims angrily, "Lyle, why is your bag on the counter?"
"Dad, are you okay?" The coffee's hot, she realises, and it must actually hurt – the thought makes her realise again how important this deception is.
He turns on her. "Claire, are your curtains open?" he demands.
"No, I - "
"Oh, honey, you want me to get you another shirt?" Mom asks, but Dad waves the suggestion away, heading towards the stairs.
The act's so impressive, Claire forgets for a second what's in her room. Then she remembers – the pajamas on the floor, the sheets – and she hurries after her dad, intending to head him off.
Turns out she needn't have worried. Dad goes straight to his room, shutting the curtains in there, and when she opens her bedroom door the bed's made up, complete with hospital corners, and the curtains are moving slightly – she must have left the window open last night. The room smells like fresh air and perfume.
"Two doors down," she tells Peter.
Alone in her room, Claire can almost pretend that nothing happened last night.