Disclaimer: I don't Heroes, and the fundamental concept of this story was inspired by rain and leaves' "Four Months Later" and is used with his permission

Feedback: I'd like it, trust me

A Leap to Safety

"Yeah," Claire said, nodding slightly in response to his unasked question. "That's why I wasn't that surprised to see you just… show up like that last night. Things…"

She shrugged uncertainly. "Well, let's just say our lives haven't been normal even before we met, even if they only really got interesting- for me, anyway- after that."

After a moment's silence, Peter looked Claire directly in the eyes, a stunned expression on his face as he considered the implications of what he'd just seen.

"You… how can you do that?" he asked at last (He'd done his best to come up with a way of asking the question with as few negative implications as possible; 'What are you?' sprung to mind as a possible alternative way for him to have asked that question, but he didn't want Claire to think he didn't see her as… well, 'inhuman').

"It's my… my power, really," Claire replied, smiling slightly at the almost child-like wonder on Peter's face as he looked back at her; she wondered if this was how he'd reacted when he'd learned what he could do before he lost his memories. "I can heal from… well, pretty much anything, as far as I know; it doesn't work if something's left in the wound, but otherwise I'm pretty much the picture of perfect health."

"Whoa…" Peter said, his voice low as he stared in awe at the arm that had so recently been injured, before another thought occurred to him as he looked at Claire. "Is… is that why you weren't surprised to see me… appear like I did? Is that… is it my power?"

"Well… not exactly," Claire replied, shaking her head slightly as she looked at him, trying to recall what Peter had told her about his powers during that brief period they'd spent together between her pulling that shard of glass out of his head- and that still gave her the occasional nightmare- and the fateful Kirby Plaza confrontation. "From what you told me, you're… well, basically, whenever you meet somebody else with a power, your body kind of… tweaks itself to allow you to use their powers."

"Really?" Peter said, looking at her with a slightly eager smile on his face. "You mean… because I've met you, I can heal like you do?"

"Well, you can do it when you're near me and… well, when you're on your own, you told me that you can use other powers by remembering how the people whose powers you'd absorbed made you feel when you met them," Claire replied, evidently trying to recall everything he'd told her about his abilities before he…

Well, before… whatever had happened to him had happened to him (He really needed to ask her for more information about that when he felt that the time was right; given that whatever had happened had left her thinking he was dead, he was fairly certain it wasn't something she was going to bring up on her own…).

"Wait; 'people' with powers?" he repeated, looking at her eagerly as his mind processed what she'd just told him. "As in, I knew more people than just you with abilities? What else could I do?"

"Well…" Claire said, trailing off briefly as she looked up at the ceiling, a thoughtful expression on her face, before she nodded and looked back at him. "Last time I spoke to you, you could fly, paint the future, read minds, turn invisible, move things with your mind, and generate radiation, but you might have picked some other stuff since then; you'd just met a woman with superhuman strength and been near a few other people with powers when you… when we last saw each other, but I'm not sure if you'd been close enough to absorb their abilities…"

"What could they do?" Peter asked, wishing he could stop himself from sounding like an eager little boy at the prospect of possessing more powers; just the idea of possessing one power was incredible enough, but if Claire was telling him the truth- and so far he had no reason to think otherwise-, he had more than that…

The idea was incredible.

"I mean," he continued, looking with an increasingly broad grin at the beautiful blonde woman before him (He knew that she was still in school, but he couldn't help but think of her as a woman; she'd coped remarkably well with having him drop into her life like this, particularly after what her mother had told him about the circumstances around their first meeting), "could they… move really fast? See through stuff? Fire electricity-"

A sudden crackle from his hand prompted Peter and Claire to glance down at his right hand, where his fingers were glowing and crackling with a brilliant blue-white light.

"Oh my God…" Peter whispered, raising his hand to flex his fingers as he stared incredulously at the hand before him. "This is… this is…"

"Uh… that's new," Claire said, looking uncertainly at Peter's hand as she glanced between Peter's face and his raised arm.

"New?" Peter repeated, looking back at Claire with a sudden uncertainty. "You mean… I absorbed this power after I saw you?"

"Yeah…" Claire said, looking uncertainly at him as she looked at this still glowing hand. "Damn… this is going to make training you tricky…"

Peter blinked.

"Hold on, 'training me'?" he repeated, looking inquiringly at Claire; that last statement struck him as being a rather rapid change of topic.

"Well, you didn't think I was going to leave you to figure this out by yourself, did you?" Claire asked, looking back at him with a slight smile. "The electricity thing's new, of course, but you told me pretty much everything you can do before… well, you vanished; I think I can give you a pretty decent crash course in what you're capable of without too much trouble."

She just wished that she felt as confident as she sounded; Peter might have told her how he'd managed to get his powers under control during the brief time they'd spent together between her arrival in New York and the battle at Kirby Plaza, but she hadn't expected that he'd have been in contact with other… 'specials', she thought was the best term right now… since then…

Still, if it meant that she could help Peter at least try to make sure that what had nearly happened at Kirby Plaza would never happen again, she'd do what she could; after all, at least if he accidentally hurt her while training she'd 'grow back' and he wouldn't have anything to feel guilty about.

The sound of a car pulling up outside- most likely her mother coming back from wherever she'd been earlier- drew Claire's attention away from her thoughts and back to the matter at hand.

Given everything that was going on in their lives right now, Claire wasn't entirely sure how her mother would react to the knowledge that an empathic mimic who'd absorbed some potentially very dangerous powers would be training in her house; it would probably be better for everything if she just kept that part of recent events quiet from everyone who didn't know it already.

"Look, we'll talk about this later, OK?" she said, looking earnestly at Peter as she heard the car doors open. "It's just… well, I don't think Mom's quite ready to know everything you can do yet; she's still… kinda getting used to all this, and I don't want to freak her out until we know you've got everything under control."

"Uh… sure," Peter replied, nodding slightly uncertainly at Claire as he heard the sound of footsteps approaching the outer door. He wasn't entirely certain about this latest turn of events, of course; how was any many meant to react to the idea that he not only had 'superpowers', but actually have several...?

But, at the same time, if it gave him the opportunity to spend more time with the ever-intriguing, captivating Claire Bennett?

Peter had to admit, he wasn't exactly going to be complaining about this latest turn of events...


A few hours later, as Noah Bennett stood up from behind the desk where he'd been sorting the latest few delivery orders- he was just grateful he was located near the back; he was still too junior to attract much attention-, he allowed himself a slight smile as he dialled Mohinder Suresh's number and raised his cellphone to his ear. It wasn't the best kind of distraction, but at least he had something more engaging to keep his mind occupied now; there were only so many things that could be difficult in a shop that primarily dealt in paper.

"You're working late," Mohinder's voice replied, the tone casual despite the implied question; evidently he'd heard the sounds of Noah's fellow employees' in the background.

"Night shift; don't ask," Noah replied briefly as he walked down the shop towards the main door; if things had worked out like he believed they would, he'd prefer to be ready for his 'guest' to arrive. "Was it a productive trip?"

"You should have the answer to that yourself very shortly," Mohinder replied, which provided Noah with the first genuine smile he'd felt for a while; at least this part of the operation was going according to plan, even if Peter's presence had made things more complicated.

"And… you didn't arouse any… suspicions?" he continued, taking care to keep his voice low; it might be considered paranoid by some, but he wanted to ensure that there was as few opportunities as possible for people to learn what he was up to on even the slightest chance that .

"I don't think so," Mohinder replied. "Bob seemed more angry at himself for trusting the bungling professor."

Despite his friend's neutral tone, Noah allowed himself a slight smile at that statement; at least they were succeeding in creating the right impression of Mohinder at the Company so far.

"They'll be watching me more closely now," Mohinder continued, drawing Noah's attention back to the conversation.

"That's to be expected," he replied, keeping his tone casual; as much as he trusted Mohinhder, there was always an element of risk when dealing with the Company in any way, shape or form. "Don't worry; I'll find the other paintings myself."

"Are you sure?" Mohinder asked, evidently uncertain about Noah's chances of doing so on his own.

As Noah turned around to look at the door, he smiled inwardly as he saw the person who had just walked into the store,

"You've given me everything I need," he assured Mohinder simply.

With that, he terminated the connection and turned to look directly at the new arrival. "Welcome to Copy Kingdom; How can I help you?"

With that, the two old colleagues shook hands, Noah subsequently indicating a back room a short distance away where the two men could talk for the moment without being overheard; anyone who saw him would assume that he was simply talking to a customer about a private order that he wanted.

"So," Noah asked as they entered the room, the door swiftly being closed behind him as he turned to look at the Haitian, "I assume you know what I'm after?"

"Doctor Suresh told me what he could about the situation before I took the conversation," the Haitian confirmed, nodding briefly at Noah. "I am willing to assist your search for the paintings."

"Thank you," Noah replied, nodding in gratitude at his old partner before he assumed a more serious expression. "Although… as long as you're here, there's a… personal matter… I'd appreciate your help with."

"What kind of 'personal matter'?" the Haitian asked, looking curiously at his old partner.

"Last night, Peter Petrelli showed up in my house, with no memory of who he is and wearing your old necklace," Noah said, looking pointedly at the Haitian as he spoke. "I don't know when you managed to make contact with him between then and Kirby Plaza, but I need you to get into his mind again and get him somewhere safe before we go anywhere; his presence-"

"Peter Petrelli came to your house when he did not remember who he was?" the Haitian interjected, an expression of mixed curiosity and surprise on his face as he looked back at Noah.

"Exactly; he doesn't know who he is or what he's capable of, and until he gets his powers under control there' a very good chance that he'll lip up and let someone know where we are," Noah replied, trying to project the same air of authority that he'd used when he'd worked with the Haitian in the Company. "Claire's insisting that she be allowed to train him in how to use his powers, but it's just too risky; you have to get him somewhere-"

"I will not," the Haitian interjected simply.

Noah blinked.

He might have known for the last few months that the Haitian hadn't always obeyed him- the fact that Claire still remembered her encounter with Peter and Sylar was a constant reminder of that fact- but to hear him actually say "No" directly was still something he hadn't been expecting…

"Excuse me?" he said, looking in confusion at the man standing before him.

"There are some things that are simply… meant to be," the Haitian replied, declining to elaborate any further on that statement despite the confusion that Noah knew was evident on his face at that last remark. "When I last met him, I took all memory of your daughter from Peter's mind as part of my attempt to protect him… and yet, even now, when he has nothing but instinct to guide him, when he was in danger and sought safety, his power took him to her."

For a moment the Haitian looked upwards, as though thinking about what he was about to say, before he lowered his eyes to gaze directly at Noah. "There is a… connection between them; I will not deny such a bond once it has displayed itself in such a manner."

"And that means you're leaving him here?" Noah protested, looking incredulously at the man he was increasingly beginning to realise he'd never really known; the implications of the 'bond' whose existence the Haitian had hinted at in that last sentence alone left him questioning everything he thought he'd known about the Haitian's supposedly religious background. "He's her uncle-"

"There are forces in this world that are greater than genetics," the Haitian replied simply. "I will not stand in their way simply because I do not entirely agree with them; do not ask me to do so again."

For a moment, Noah thought about continuing to try and convince the Haitian so see the current situation from his perspective; he was talking about allowing a teenage girl to stay in contact with an amnesic uncle who he'd already seen looking at his daughter in a manner that you were not supposed to look at your niece…

But he knew the look on the Haitian's face all too well; it was the same look the man had assumed when he had revealed that he had been working for someone else when it came to matters concerning Claire's safety.

When the Haitian assumed that look, everyone at the Company had known that it was time to stop talking if they wanted to wake up the next morning with all their memories intact.

After their silent 'staring contest' had been going on for a few moments, Noah sighed and nodded in resignation.

"Well…" he groaned, a he looked back at the other man. "I suppose Peter can be trusted not to do anything… inappropriate… until he gets his memories back."

Another thought occurred to him and he looked curiously at the other man. "Uh… can he get his memories back? You've never mentioned being able to… reverse your ability…"

"I cannot," the Haitian replied simply, a slight smile on his face. "There are, however, other methods that can be used…"