Title: Wall
Pairing/Characters: Noah/Claire
Rating: PG
Summary: Prompt #4 of 20. Dref is my Master and I shall write what she wants me to.
Word Count: 1,949
Date: December 17, 2008
"Claire! This is ridiculous!" I shouted as she roamed from one end of her small room to the other. She was completely ignoring me, which wasn't helping me control my anger either. She was steadily packing two very large suitcases and every time she three something in, I would throw it out. I was well aware that I was acting childish, but then her adult-ness was unsettling me. "You are not leaving!" I said in my 'finality' voice I'd used on her countless times. She stopped walking and turned her green eyes on my.
"I am going. I don't have to live here anymore. I'm eighteen." She said as if that solved everything. I threw up my hands in frustration, for once happy that no one else was home to hear this idiocy.
"That's not why I'm telling you to stay! What with this rumored Special Forces Division locating and collecting people like you... with abilities... It's more dangerous now-"
"For me to remain with you. Once they realize that you were connected to Primateck and Angela Petrelli, they'll get you... Then they'll get me through you. If I leave then you have deniability. Everyone's safe!" I sighed. Her plan might work if it was still nineteen-seventy-something. Time changed and so did torturing methods.
"It won't matter sweetheart, whether you're here or halfway around the world, they will eventually find you... If you're on your own. I'm just as dangerous to them as you are, therefore we are safer together." She looked at me with a 'why are you talking crazy, dad' looks.
"No! You have Lyle and mom to think about. They are not a part of this and where as two might fend them off and evade them, four will only attract attention. No! I'm going. Alone and that's final." Her tone was like a slap in the face, though I had to admit, coming from her it felt worse for it. The authority she was trying to wield towards me was almost cute in an annoying kind of way and I was once again reminded of how fast she had to grow up. Again that's all my fault...
"Damn it Claire!" I shouted turning my back to her. I could hear her soles on the carpet and I knew she was taking this time to repack her two suitcases. I was so angry, so out of control. The whole Primateck thing and Sylar had gotten well under my skin, though I'd never let Claire or Sandra know that. I really hoped the bastard was dead, but deep down, where my intuition lies, I knew Sylar was still alive. Waiting and plotting revenge.
I was no longer a Company man, hell there wasn't a Company anymore. And for the first time in my life I felt like I was backed up against the wall without an alternate plan of attack... or escape. My instincts, my skills, my precision techniques to handling certain situations all made me one kind of man, but how do I fit into this world now? With what I know? The only orders I could still follow was to protect Claire. My Clairebear. Even though it was more like second nature than orders and now she was even denying me that. Suddenly all that anger that I'd buried with the burning Primateck building had surfaced. Every time Claire passed by me without looking at me just made me angrier. Even as I got angrier, I knew this wasn't right. I'd never harbored anything but love for Claire. She has every right to want to leave and never talk to me again... I tried to reason with myself. Talk the anger away as I've been able to do on other occasions. *Swish* Her hair swings past me. *Swish* She doesn't even look at me. Ignoring me.
"Da-" The force of the impact of her back against the wall cut off her cry as my face contorted with anger and I squeezed her upper arms in my hands. Her eyes widened when they finally caught mine. I felt a maniacal smile form and wondered briefly Am I going crazy now? Is this what it feels like? Her breath was back to her, but for once caution kept her mouth shut. Instead she pushed against me, which only made me push against her. Her lips parted as her teeth came together in a grimace. For some insane reason, I liked that expression on her. I was expecting it, I am trained at apprehending people after all, so catching her knee between my legs before it could connect with my balls was easy.
"Claire!?" I said at the surprise that she'd even try it. She looked up into my eyes again, her's hardening minute by minute.
"You can't bully me." She said with a little raise of her eyebrow. "Besides, you don't have to be stronger than your adversary in order to get the upper hand." Her know-all tone of voice intrigued me. At least I'm not as angry anymore... I thought as I toyed with what she meant with her words.
"What do you mean?" I asked. Is that why I'm doing this? Holding my daughter hostage in her bedroom? To teach her something... Or is it something else entirely? My thoughts ran together as I caught a sniff of the apple shampoo she used. Movement alerted me that she was trying to raise her arms. I had them pinned against the wall to the elbow and for a second I entertained the idea of letting go, but I was too intrigued by her actions. She sighed, letting her hands fall to her sides. I looked at her face to see the frown sitting there.
I stood up straighter and watched her emotions play across her face. She'd always been an easy person to read. Carrying her heart on her sleeve as some would say. Right now she was concentrating; thinking and I watched as each idea marched across her face and then be rejected. I realized I could probably watch all day long and not get bored. Suddenly her mouth started moving. I listened but only heard the faintest of sounds. What is she saying? Reciting? I questioned myself as I glanced from her mouth to her eyes, which were boring into mine. Her eyes seemed to taunt me. 'Come closer. Listen. I'm saying something important.' They seemed to be saying. Unconsciously I was inching forward. Leaning down to catch what her small voice was saying. Two seconds too late I realized it was a trap.
Her manicured nails snatched onto my tie and jerked my head down. The pressure on my neck loosened as she let go of my tie and I felt her palms on the side of my face. My hands must have come off her arms as I was pulled forward because she had me and my palms were against the wall on either side of her shoulders. I looked into Claire's eyes as she pulled my face closer to her, which meant a back-breaking hunch. I finally gave in and sunk onto my knees. I was only a little shorter than she was now. I was too stunned, too cowered that I was outsmarted by an eighteen year old to realize what she was doing. My eyes snapped to her eyebrows as they knitted together in either confusion or concern, I wasn't at all too sure right now.
My head felt like it was stuffed with cotton balls. Her eyes were too close to concentrate on now and I was getting dizzy. What the hell? I thought briefly before I closed my eyes, my own brow furrowing in confusion. I was acutely aware of her hands on my face once my eyes closed. Her short nails digging into the skin in front of my ears, her thumbs rubbing back and forth on my cheeks, no doubt feeling stubble. My forehead wrinkled as I tried to figure out what she was doing. To me! What is she doing to me!? I almost didn't feel the lightest of brushes against my lips before it was gone. I hardly have lips, so thin and barely there, but that brush sensitized them one-thousand-fold. I opened my eyes to see her looking at me, then before I could say anything, question her; Claire pulled my face back to her own, fast this time and pushed her lips against mine.
Three second shock before I could pull away, "Claire what the hell?" I asked getting off my knees and towering over her. My hands clenched and unclenched at my sides as I tried to reason out what was going on. I felt her hands on my shirt before I looked down, but didn't have time to respond before she took the advantage and was able to turn me around and slam my back against the wall. Our roles were reversed and where as I observed personal space, her body was right up against mine. Her breasts distinctly two separate mounds against my chest. I was holding onto the wall as if I placed a hand on her they would burn off. "Claire?" I asked uncertainly staring into her eyes. Her expression was confusing to me. Once I could read her so well, but her actions and reactions were warring with her emotions. I could see it plainly on her face.
She looked down at her hands where they lay flat on my chest. "I can't do this to them. That's why I'm leaving..." She said sadly. I puzzled over this for a moment. I'm sure she was talking about Lyle and Sandra, but her meaning didn't make itself clear to me. Concerned I did what every father does to their sad child, I wrapped my arms around her. She looked up again. "You'll never understand." Her tone implied that she's just realized an epic truth of some kind. I was still a bit confused. The sadness in her voice colored her face and it broke my heart. Why wasn't I grasping it? Why can't I understand what she's trying to say? Her eyes caught mine again, one, two, three seconds and she was away from me. Arms wrapped around herself and standing in the middle of her room. The disaster zone where things were thrown everywhere.
"You're leaving?" I asked.
"I am." She said.
"And you won't tell me the real reason why?" I asked, feeling my heart breaking, but not fully grasping the significance. She's still my daughter... Claire looked away from me, to a picture on her desk. It was an older picture, tinted that brown color to make it look old-timey. We'd gone to a fair in Midland and she'd insisted on doing an 'old west' photo thing. There I was in cowboy get-up with a lawman's star on my chest, six-shooter in my hand and all I can remember was the jaw-dropping surprise of Claire in the Saloon Girl outfit. In the photo Claire is wearing a cowboy's outfit as my deputy with a six-shooter too and that's because I'd made her change, but I still remember the very unfatherly thoughts I'd had from the glimpse of her in that outfit. "Do epiphanies make your legs feel like spaghetti?" I asked before taking two steps and pulling her into my arms. I was rewarded with a confused stare as I initiated a kiss this time. Is this what she meant? I thought and was answered when I felt her kiss me back. This time it took her five seconds to have my back against the wall, but I had no intention of escape.