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
AN: Sorry about the delay; with the new series airing I've been trying to plan some of my future plotlines to prevent making things too difficult- I don't like to contradict stuff that we might find out about the Heroes' pasts-, as well as working out how some changes I was planning to make to the Season Two plot might impact the way things are going now.
A Leap to Safety
As Claire sat at the dinner table, casually picking at her food as she looked around at her family, she allowed herself a slight sigh of relief as she once again reflected on how grateful she was that she'd settled things with West. Putting aside just how much of a prat he'd proven himself to be- she was almost amazed that he could fly, given how big his head seemed to be with that ridiculously inflated opinion of himself-, she already had enough problems trying to cope with the Peter situation without the hassle that would have arisen if she'd tried to date him, what with her father's 'rule' not to draw attention to themselves while here.
As it was, all she had to do was not tell anyone about peter and help him regain control of his abilities; if anyone asked about her lack of a social life, she had the ready-made excuse of looking after a visiting sick relative, and all was well.
"I thought," her mother said, Mr Muggles tucked under one arm as she looked around at her family, breaking into Claire's train of thought as she continued to eat, "for desert, we could go to that adorable yoghurt place near the bus depot."
"Uh… sorry, but I can't," Claire said, looking apologetically around at the others; she was nearly finished her food anyway, so the sooner she told them what she was doing the better. "Peter and I still need to work on his powers; he's getting the hang of how to use my ability when I'm not there, but he needs to start learning how to use the others if he's going to make any kind of progress."
"Any plans on what ability you'll be starting with?" Noah asked, looking critically at her as though he was going to 'grade' her based on which power she decided to focus on.
"I was thinking just his… painting skills at first; it's a relatively simple power to tap into and it might even provide us with some information about what happened to him," Claire replied, looking casually back at her father. "How's that?"
"Good call," her father said, nodding back at her before his eyes narrowed. "Just let me know if he paints anything that looks… significant; forewarned is forearmed, after all."
Noting Claire's sceptical look at him, her father smiled. "I still have a couple of contacts I can talk to if Peter paints something big enough to be worried about; it should be simple enough to let them know what the problem is without tipping anyone off to where we are."
Claire simply nodded at that before returning her attention to her food, already mentally going over her training strategy for once her family had left.
Painting would be something she'd help Peter tap into, of course, but there was also his invisibility to think about (And that was not because it would make it easier for her to sneak him out of the house later on; it was just because it was a simple enough power and it would be easy to find out if he was using it properly or not without any risks)…
After her parents and Lyle had left for the yoghurt place that her mother had mentioned- her mother promising to bring her back something to eat to make up for her not being able to go herself-, Claire found herself sitting in her bedroom, staring silently at her phone as she contemplated what she was about to do.
With Peter currently asleep- her attempts to help him learn how to regain his powers might be necessary, but they could also be rather tiring; he'd only really managed to - and nobody else to bother her, it was time for Claire to do something that she should have done as soon as Peter had arrived in her room.
She had to call Nathan.
She wasn't sure if Peter was ready to actually talk to his brother, of course- especially not when the last time he'd seen the guy as far as she knew was when he was about to go nuclear-, but maybe if she could talk to him he might be able to offer some suggestions about what to do with Peter now or something like that.
He might be a prat at times- his role in the plan to blow up New York proved that much-, but he'd shown that he was still a decent guy for all that; even if he couldn't offer much in the way of help, a fresh perspective might be just what she needed to get a better idea of how to help Peter…
Quickly dialling in the number that not even her parents knew she currently possessed, she raised the phone to her ear, waiting patiently for a few moments before the ringing finally stopped.
"Hello?" Claire asked, after she had waited for a few minutes for the person on the other end to respond and received nothing in return. "Are you there?"
"Claire?" Nathan's voice said on the other end of the line; to his credit, he sounded more coherent than he had the last time the two of them had spoken, but Claire still worried that he sounded too grim to be any real help to her in her current problem. "I thought I told you not to call me again-"
"I know," Claire replied. "But this is important; something's-"
"Look, Claire, this really isn't a good time for me to talk to you," Nathan interrupted; Claire was so surprised to hear her father acting this resolute about anything after the almost apathetic state he'd been in following the explosion that she "My mother's being accused of murder, at least four other people are still in danger while also being the only suspects we've got, and not only is the only lead I've got from a twelve-year-old girl in a coma, but the only person willing to help me deal with this is a guy who can read minds who's still trying to deal with his own issues. So unless you've got something to say that can help me tackle this, I'd appreciate not being interrupted; we're still trying to figure out our next move right now."
Claire knew that her father had a point.
Given the situation that he was dealing with right now, this wasn't a good time for her to talk to him.
Equally, it wasn't a good time for him to learn that his brother was still alive.
If what he'd said was an accurate description of the crisis he was dealing with, Nathan had enough on his plate right now; if he knew that Peter was here, it would only give him something else to worry about, particularly since it sounded like he already had more immediate concerns.
Peter could wait a few more days to meet his brother again; from what Nathan had just said, he almost definitely needed to focus on his current problem right now.
Admittedly, she wasn't sure if clearing the woman who'd been willing to let Peter blow up New York was a particularly smart move- as far as she was concerned the woman deserved whatever happened to her- but she had to admire his resolve; her bio-dad had definitely changed from the guy who'd been willing to let New York get incinerated just to carry out some demented plan that he'd only been told about a few days before it happened.
"Nothing," she said at last, sighing slightly. "It'll keep. Just… just call if you need any help from me, OK?"
"Sure," Nathan replied briskly before he terminated the call, leaving Claire sitting silently alone in her room.
Well, she mused to herself as she looked at her phone. So much for that idea…
Then she sighed, stood up, and headed for Peter's room.
She could worry about her father later; right now, since she couldn't do anything to help Nathan, she had to get started on Peter's next 'lesson'.
It wasn't exactly easy going, but, even if she had no way of helping Nathan deal with his own current crisis, at least she could be fairly sure of helping Peter with his problems right now…
A few minutes later, Peter and Claire had made their way to the only remaining empty room in the house, the room in question being located just above the garage at the back of the house to limit the possibility of people seeing them.
So far this room- which Claire and Lyle had generally termed the 'back-up room', as the only possible use anyone could think of for it was as a replacement room if any of the others were occupied- was still underfurnished, possessing only a few basic essentials like a couple of chairs and a table; her father had been lucky enough to purchase the house with most of the furniture from the previous residents, but this room had been pretty much ignored by them and her family hadn't gotten around to getting new furniture for it yet.
Which, Claire mused as she looked over at Peter as he stood in the middle of the room, makes it the perfect place to help him remember how to use his abilities.
"So," Peter asked, looking uncertainly at Claire as she closed the door of the room behind them, "where were you last night? I mean, you got back kind of late…"
"I… had some thinking to do," Claire replied, wishing she could sound more certain when she said that; her statement might be the truth, but she still didn't exactly feel… comfortable telling Peter about the time she'd spent with West yesterday.
She knew it didn't make sense to feel like she'd done something wrong by going off with West like that- it wasn't like she was involved with Peter in… that sense of the word, and it hadn't gone any further than a kiss even then- but anyone who thought that emotions were simple didn't know what they were talking about even in normal situations, and the one she was in right now was anything but normal as far as she was concerned.
"Anything in particular?" Peter asked, looking curiously at her, drawing her attention back to the matter at hand.
"Mmm? Oh, nothing major," Claire replied, shaking her head as she turned to look at Peter once again. "So, now that we've the healing thing sorted- y'know, we know that your powers are still there and everything, shall we see about working on some of your other abilities?"
"Like what?" Peter asked, looking curiously at her.
"Well… you told me once that you could paint the future; maybe we could start with that?" Claire asked. "After all, it's a pretty straightforward power to use and there's not much chance of you tapping into something else when you're using it; seems like the safest option, really."
"'Safe'?" Peter repeated, looking uncertainly at her. "Are you saying… my powers are dangerous?"
"Only if you don't know what you're doing; I'd just like to get you started on the safer ones like painting the future or invisibility before we go on to the big stuff like that electricity thing you showed me earlier and all that," Claire assured him, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "You just need to… work on your abilities one at a time to make sure you know what you're doing; just… I dunno… paint a few things and see what happens."
"Like what?" Peter asked, looking uncertainly at Claire. "What am I-?"
"Here," Claire said, as she reached into the bag and pulled out a few large sheets of paper, subsequently spreading them out on the floor around them as she rummaged in her bag before pulling out the painting set that she'd picked up on her way home from school that day. "Just… well, from what you told me, all you need to do is take the brush, relax, look at the canvas, and… well, paint, I guess."
"You 'guess'?" Peter repeated, looking at Claire uncertainly.
"Well, it's not like I really asked about it that much; all I really knew about it is that you once finished a painting that the guy who originally had that ability started but wasn't able to finish, and you made a few sketches of this… fire… that would have happened if we hadn't managed to stop it," Claire said, deciding to stick to the basic facts without presenting the full picture; she didn't want Peter to know how close he'd come to destroying New York until he knew way more than he did right now about controlling his abilities. "Look, just… try not to think too much about it; maybe if you just… doodle or something it'll come to you…"
Her voice trailed off as she saw Peter, staring at the piece of paper before him, assume a resolute expression mere seconds before his eyes suddenly clouded over, leaving them a blank white that made him look like he was blind. Even as Claire stared at him in confusion, Peter, seemingly no longer even aware of her presence, picked up one of the paint-brushes from the set she'd purchased, dipped the brush into the black paint, and began to paint.
Even after hearing her father's descriptions of the demonstrations he'd seen of Isaac Mendez's power, seeing Peter's eyes as they went blank was still one of the most disturbing images Claire had ever seen. Privately, she wondered if Peter was even aware of what was going on around him when that happened; did he shut down his awareness of everything around him apart from the painting, or did he just choose not to register it?
As Peter continued to paint, showing no sign of being aware of Claire's presence, she sighed and turned to walk towards the door, glancing uncomfortably back at him as she did so.
"Uh… I'm just going to get myself a quick snack, OK?" she said, cursing herself for how stupid that statement sounded as soon as it had left her mouth; he didn't even seem to see her now, how could he hear her?
Still… it made her feel better to know that she'd tried to tell him; it helped her feel that this whole situation was less… strange… than it might have seemed 'normally'.
Some time later- Claire hadn't really paid attention to a clock; knowing how long it could take to paint stuff she'd just grabbed a small tub of ice cream and eaten about half of it before going back up-, Claire walked back into the room, just in time to see Peter putting the finishing touches to what even her amateur eye had to admit was a fairly detailed piece of work even with only a cursory glance. Before Claire had done more than look briefly at it, however, Peter had stepped away from it and his eyes had returned to normal, leaving him staring uncertainly at the picture that was now before him.
"Uh…" the former nurse muttered, shaking his head slightly as he looked over at her, indicating the painting in confusion as he spoke. "Did I do that?"
"Yeah, that's you," Claire confirmed, walking forward to study the picture herself. It showed two figures- two figures that looked uncannily like her and Peter, she noted; at least that much was encouraging- standing in front of what looked like a shop of some kind, street signs and a cathedral visible on the right-hand-side of the painting.
"Whoa…" Peter said, looking reflectively at the picture before he turned to look at Claire. "What do you think; Montreal?"
"Well, I suppose so…" Claire mused, nodding thoughtfully as she studied the painting before her. "I mean, we've got that ticket, so we know you were going to go there; what we don't know is why…?"
"Good question…" Peter said, nodding uncertainly as he looked at the painting before him before he turned to look at one of the other sheets of paper. "Maybe if I just… I dunno… work on a few more…"
"You think you can?" Claire asked, looking back at him with an expression that she hoped reflected encouragement even as she found herself internally divided on the thought. On the one hand, she did want Peter to remember his old life- she could hardly expect him to keep living in her parents' spare room until they figured out an appropriate cover story for him-, but at the same time, if he remembered…
She shook that thought off; she had more important things to worry about than what might happen after he got his memory back.
Besides… even if he never remembered…
How could she just… lie to him like that? How could she live with herself for 'tricking' Peter into being with her? What she was doing now was one thing- there was nothing wrong with having the occasional fantasy about being with your amnesic uncle so long as it remained a fantasy-, but actually doing it…
If Peter never regained his memories, she'd hate herself; if he did, he'd hate her.
After a moment's thought, Peter shook his head.
"I don't think that'd help right now," he said, as he turned to look at her. "I think we need to check this place out."
Claire blinked.
"What?" she said, looking at Peter in surprise; even with the memory of how resolute he'd been to figure out how to stop the explosion those short months ago, she hadn't been expecting him to say something like that in his current condition.
"We need to check this place out, and I have a feeling I'm going to need to be able to defend us if things get ugly," Peter said, his tone resolute as he looked over at Claire. "Someone stuck me in that box for a reason, and I don't think it was to help me."
For a moment, he looked away from her towards a nearby window- the curtains were drawn of course, but Claire briefly found herself wondering if the ability to see through things was a power Peter had picked up since he'd last met her- before he turned back to look at her. "Whoever it was, they wanted me out of the way, and this ticket is the only clue we've got to find out why; maybe it's where I was planning to go before they caught up with me."
"And… if it's a trap?" Claire pointed out, looking uncertainly at him. "What then?"
Peter smiled.
"Hey; I don't think they were expecting me to run into you when they left me there," he pointed out, reaching over to place a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I know what I can do now, and thanks to your training I know how I can use it; I think I can-"
"We," Claire corrected, looking resolutely back at Peter; just because he might want to take back what he'd said earlier about 'we' didn't mean that she was going to let it go. "Look, no matter how good you're getting at this, you still haven't remembered how to use your offensive abilities; I get that you want to check this out soon, and I'm all for helping you find some answers, but if you're going anywhere,I'm coming with you."
"Are you sure?" Peter asked. "I mean, your dad…"
"Look, this is about helping you; I'm sure Dad'll… understand," Claire said (She really wished she sounded more confident; she really sucked at lying). "I'll talk to him about that tomorrow; in the meantime, since the painting seems to be under control, maybe we could… try your invisibility?"
Peter smiled.
"Let's go," he said simply.
Neither of them noticed, currently floating just outside the window, peering through a crack in the curtains where Claire hadn't quite drawn them completely shut, the silently-fuming form of West Rosen as he stared at the couple inside the room before him, his fists clenched in rage.
He couldn't believe it; this was why Claire had decided to reject him? She'd ditched the chance to spend time with a guy who could fly for a guy who could paint?
OK, so his eyes had done that whole weird… thing while he was painting the picture, which suggested that he wasn't quite your average artist, but seriously, even if he did have a 'power', what kind of ability was painting stuff?
And all that talk about 'going'… somewhere he hadn't quite been able to hear from this distance…
It was ridiculous; how the hell was Claire meant to go anywhere with a guy who had to be about twice her age? How could she ditch him for an old idiot who couldn't do anything more than paint stuff?
He needed to make Claire see sense before she could do anything she'd regret when she came to her senses.
If that meant that he'd need to keep an eye on her so he'd know when she was going to… wherever she was going…
Well, he could deal with that.
After all, West mused to himself with a slight smile as he lifted himself up into the air and began to fly away, how do you get away from a guy who can fly at the speed of sound?
AN 2: OK, next chapter begins with Peter and Claire on their flight to Montreal; the essentials details about the intervening time will be mentioned, but I wanted to get right to the heart of the manner as Peter and Claire learn just what they're dealing with this time around, thus bringing their confrontation with Adam forward all the more promptly…
