Chapter 36

"What do you mean?" Claire stared at him. "Nathan is my real dad. I don't like it, but I accepted it already."

"They lied to you!" Peter scoffed. "They lied to us, Claire! Yet… again!"

"I don't understand…" She shook her head.

"Adam Monro is the one," Peter sat on the bed, right next to her. "He is your father! How I found out about it? I've traced Meredith and asked her."

"Why now?" Claire frowned. "I thought you didn't care who's daughter am I, as long as I'm with you."

"That's right," he didn't even blink. "I personally don't care, but I think you still do. So, I've decided to do some digging and make sure that there's nothing hidden anymore. So, I've traced Meredith. It turned out that my mother hid her good. Now she's living her life and even have a new family," Peter spat the last word. "And what are we doing? How you suffer, nobody cares!"

"What do you mean?" Claire put her hand over his shoulder carefully. "I'm not suffering. I just care about you family, Peter and your name. I don't want you to get involved in another scandal! This is why I got worried when everything started."

"When are you going to realize that I really don't care, Claire?" He threw her a look. "I think I gave my family and my name more than enough! I've put myself in danger too many times! I saved the world and served to the people long enough! What's in for me? What did I get out of everything? Nothing!" Peter looked at her. "You once told me that I act like Sylar once, remember?" He waited until Claire was able to nod. "But I'm not!" He got off the bed nervously and went to the window with his back facing her. "I just wanted some happiness! For… me!" His head hung between his shoulders. "All these years I didn't ask for anything! I pushed my dreams and desires aside for the greater good. And now? They ask me to keep doing it!" His fists clenched. "My own mother tried to stop me! Why? If she knew that you're not from our family? Why? Why she tried to make that little puppy I once was? I get that she likes to control things, but I didn't expect that she'd stop me to be happy," Peter shook his head. "My own mother! And even you!" He twirled around and narrowed his eyes. "You kept fighting with me over and over again! Why?"

"I thought that was the right thing to do, Peter…" Claire lowered her look and one of her hands fell on her belly. "I didn't know what else I can do."

"You thought that was the right way? Then why you kept seducing me?" He tilted his head. "Even with your thoughts! Even when you were with someone else, you kept thinking about me! Why? You knew that I could read your thoughts!"

"Because I couldn't control myself!" Claire bit her lower lip. "I thought… I could live with that feeling, because I couldn't let myself to be weak again."

"Again?" His look was more quizzical now. "What do you mean?"

"I…" Claire stammered. "When I met you!" She finally said. "When I stared into your eyes for the first time… I felt safe! You made me feel something that no one made it before! I couldn't quite understand what, but it was so strong… and something else. I-I… was so anxious to see you that I went to New York! I wanted to tell you how I feel and hope that you… you'll answer me with the same. Then… I met Angela and she told me that we're related!" Her voice trembled. "She told me that you are my uncle and she… I thought she felt sorry for me, but perhaps I've just imagined that. The night before Mohinder brought you back in the Mansion after your first fight with Sylar… I spent it in your room, crying! I knew that love had to disappear, but I didn't know how. After that… I kept trying to push it away! To run away from it… from you!"

"You can't!" Peter said with stern voice. "I'm going to find you, no matter where you are! It doesn't matter through what I have to pass, but I'm not letting you go! Not again!"

"I don't wanna go," Claire almost whispered and stared at him with love in her eyes. "Can you feel that? Please tell me you can!" She got off the bed and went to him, putting her hands at the both sides of his waist and looking up at him. "I don't really care about my true father right now, or my real last name. You don't care, why should I?" She felt his warm hands resting over her shoulders. "Why we have to care about anything else than us right now? I can't see a reason, Peter!"

"Because I want you to feel safe, Claire!" He buried his fingers into her hair and she leaned on his hand. "I don't wanna hide anymore."

"Are we really hiding?" She asked him with a sigh. "I thought we're having our own world right here."

"I don't want to stop you from fulfilling your dreams, Claire…" He whispered and his thumb skimmed over her lower lip. "I want you to be happy!"

"I thought you only wanted me to be with you," Claire opened her eyes slightly. "Why that sudden change all of a sudden?"

"Because I love you!" Peter lowered his voice and his eyes narrowed. "Because… we're going to be parents soon, and I don't want our child to be ashamed and have to hide."

Claire slid her hands up his chest and stopped them there. "I just want to be with you right now," she smiled and her eyes shone. "I missed you! I missed that side of you! I knew you hid it deep to be strong, but I…"

"I haven't changed, Claire!" His voice was stern. "I'm the same one who stole you from your wedding! I'm the same one, who'd kill your little puppy, named Andy if he even dares to get near you! I can't bear to watch how every male human being wants to see you naked in his bed!" His right hand grabbed her wrist and squeezed it, while his left hand was still in her blond hair. "Oh, I've heard so many thoughts about you in every gathering we've had in the Mansion! I was able to control my emotions to one point, but then… I've decided that was too much! So… I baled from every other party. See, if I've stayed then my mother would've been very disappointed in me!" An ominous smile appeared on his face. "Then… she got disappointed in me for real, when she realized that I want you and nobody and nothing can stop me!"

"You didn't want me!" Claire said boldly. "You loved me all the time!"

"That too, but…" his face leaned closer to her one. "I also wanted you! I wanted you in a way that a man wants a woman… in his bed! I could see you in my bed, your arms and legs wrapped around me and you screaming for more!" He bit her lower lip and his lips touched hers, then he whispered. "I've spent many nights under the cold shower."

"Oh, you did?" Claire felt weak in her knees, but Peter held her tight.

"Oh yeah," he leaned over the crock of her next and his lips touched her there. "When I finally had you… I wanted you even more!"

"You have me now…" Claire matched her whisper.

"Yeah, I do!" Peter pulled away just enough to look at her. "But I haven't changed Claire! I still want you more… love you more! Becoming a parent wasn't something I've planned, but at the same time I'm happy it happened in that way! Our child! Our own child! This is way I've had to check everything. I had to make sure there are no regrets later! And… I finally found out the truth! But don't get me wrong," Peter smiled. He smiled! "I'm not gonna apologize for loving you! I'd never be ashamed of what I've done to make you mine! However, Adam Monroe turned out to be your real father, Claire! Meredith lied! She lied for money! My mother paid her once and when she found out the truth, she paid her to continue with that lie."

"Why?" Claire shook her head.

"She wanted to keep me away from you!" Peter sighed. "Your love would make me stronger and that wasn't in my mother's plans Claire. She wanted her son to stay hers forever. In that way, she would've been able to control me, because she knew of what was going to happen! She knew about my abilities and how I'd take them back, but then she saw you coming and she just sensed a treat. Because you… you are my soulmate!"

"And?" Claire was still looking at him a bit confused. "We can be soulmates without being something more, you know?" She tried to step back, but Peter didn't let her. He kept her close to him. "Peter?"

"There's something called unconditional love. That love makes you stronger than whenever you are. That love gives you something that no other love can give you. It gives you your soulmate, lover, best friend… in one." Peter kept staring at her. "It makes you think that you can do everything for the one you love! And you really do! It makes you do things that you've never even imagined… just for the person you love the most in the world!" He sighed and his eyes darkened again. "My mother knew that. She knew that at that point in my life, I haven't connected to anyone. I felt… lost. I knew there's someone in the world for me, and I kept searching for that woman. But then… you happened. I met you and my mom finally saw it! Then she reached out for Meredith and asked her to keep the lie going. She did it not out of love, Claire. She calculated everything. She knew that our meeting was inevitable, even if she tried to stop it from happening. I would go to that building to Odessa and I'd save you then. She knew that I was going to fall in love with you, but… she didn't know that would be so strong. In the moment she saw it, she made sure that I'd feel guilty. She used that guilt to make me do whatever she wants me to do. My mother kept me blind for so many years, Claire. But I somehow got out of her trap. My jealousy was the thing that actually saved me."

"How?" Claire touched his face. "What do you mean? You wanted me to go away, Peter! Then… for what jealousy we're talking about?"

"I didn't want to hurt you," Peter tilted his head and leaned his face on her palm. "I still wanted to keep you safe and away from me. But… then Andy decided to propose to you. A picture of you in a long white dress flashed through my head. I couldn't bear it!" He gritted his teeth. "I saw your life with Andy! I saw him touching you in a way I want to touch you! And that was it! I couldn't bear it anymore! So… I just stopped fighting against something that I was sure that was about to damage both of our lives." Peter bit his lower lip. "I'm not going to apologize for what I've done, because I don't feel sorry for anything! Everything I've done was to get you here, in my arms! Now you are where you are supposed to be – right beside of me!"

"And the rest of the world?" Claire smiled lightly.

"I don't give a fuck!" Peter leaned to kiss her.

"But I do!" The sound of Noah's voice made Peter act as a flash. He turned around just in time to see Claire's father standing before the open door of their apartment. "I've heard you talked to Meredith?"

"I talked to my mother about that," Peter tilted his head casually, but Claire could feel how his energy was changing. He was standing right in front of her right now. "I knew that she was going to call you."

"You also left unlocked, Peter!" Noah shoved his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket. "Getting sloppy or too lay to lock your door?"

"We both know that's not true," Peter shrugged and felt Claire's hands resting at the both sides of his waist. She was trying to calm him down. "What are you doing here, Noah? I thought I left you a good message not to do that."

"I wanted to see my daughter," Noah was able to see only Claire's head right next to Peter's right shoulder. "I thought I should check if she changed her mind about you."

"Really?" Claire whispered and stared at her father. "You couldn't come up with something better?"

"Nah," Noah shook his head. "I thought…"

"Leave!" Peter hissed. "Now!"

"Or what?" Noah frowned.

"Do you even have to ask?" Peter clenched his hands in fists and when he opened them, Noah could've seen the blue electrical sparks there.