Trust and Blood, 3x15, Part 2
Somwhere in Russellville, Arkansas...
Ando and Daphne sat behind the broken off plane. Ando wiped a bead of sweat from the nape of his neck, before sighing and leaning against the wreckage.
"I had no idea being a hero required so much waiting." He grumbled.
Daphne echoed his sigh before slumping down beside him. "I hear ya. It's worse for me, I'm used to things going at warp speed." She let her head fall on his shoulder. "This is taking ages."
Ando sighed, putting some of his weight on her as well. "So, what? Are we just supposed to wait here for you to get shot?"
Daphne gave him an incredulous look. "Not if we can stop it." Looking at his confused look, she sighed. "Do you believe in destiny?"
Ando chuckled. "With Hiro it's hard not to."
Daphne smiled and shook her head slightly. "I don't. I think that we make our own lives, and that destiny is just what we call the things we think is going to happen." She gave him a wide but sad smile. "That's why I didn't really believe Matt about me and him in the beginning." She snorted. "All that talk about our future, and what was going to happen, as if we had no say in it. I thought he was crazy." Ando smiled. That was the Nemesis he remembered, the fast talking, sarcastic and destiny-defying speedster he knew.
"And now?" He asked, curious.
"I dunno." She sighed. "I really like him, he makes me laugh, and he's sweet...And pure and good...But sometimes our outlooks on life are really different. I wanna see the world, and he wants to settle down and be normal." She rubbed her forehead. "I'm sorry," She rolled her eyes, guesturing wildly with her arms. "I'm just blurting all this stuff out to you like you're my psuedo therapist or something." Ando shook his head.
"It's okay." They lapsed into a comfortable silence. Daphne didn't know how long they had been sitting there, it'd felt like hours to her. The hot sun beat down on them and beads of sweat formed on Daphne's head. Her stomache cramped with nerves. She had never liked waiting. Then something occured to her. Why was she waiting around to get shot? It wasn't like this was hers and Matt's established meeting place if he was ever kidnapped by men in ugly black armour. There was no reason she couldn't look for Matt, was there? Why wait for Matt to come and find her? She abruptly rose to her feet, just as Matt came into view, followed closely by Mohinder and Hiro. Daphne couldn't help the huge smile that broke through on her face. She barely heard Ando spring to his feet behind her as she moved forward towards Matt. Before she could take a step though, she heard three shots ring out. Her eyes widened in shock and pain as the bullets hit her shoulder, ripping through her flesh. She felt someone catch her as she fell, she heard Hiro calling out 'nemesis, nemesis!', she heard someone grunt in pain behind her. And then she couldn't hold on anymore. The world faded in front of her, and the last thing she saw was Matt's worried face hovering over her, and then he was pulled from sight and the only thing she saw was the clear blue sky that hung over her.
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Somewhere in Allentown...
Claire leaned against the window in silence, feeling Sylar's eyes on her. He was probably wondering why she had taken that bullet for him...But she wasn't ready to give him an answer right now. Her reasoning had made sense at the time... It just didn't make sense to her now. She wiped away a stray tear from her eye, hoping he didn't see it. She hated showing weakness in front of him. But she was tired. She wanted to go home. She wanted to hug Sandra and smell that all-too-familiar homey smell and curl up on the couch to watch a stupid romantic comedy that she would ultimately make fun of. Another tear escaped her. She wiped it away just as quick. She was being stupid. Peter would just...Deal. He would always be the hero. So that was what she was going to do. Deal.
"So...Claire...Gotta boyfriend?" Luke called from the backseat, pressing his lanky arms against the driver's seat and the passenger seat, and leaning so close toward her that it was making her slightly uncomfortable.
"No." Claire muttered, pressing her body closer to the door in a pathetic effort to get away from him. She had almost forgotten he was there. After Luke had made that confession that had saved Agent Simmons life, they had made a quick exit from the Campbell's house-leaving a horrified Mary Campbell, Meredith and a horribly bruised and battered Agent Simmons behind-and to Claire's relief, alive. And because Luke had refused outright(smart boy) to give Sylar the information on the spot, they were-dun, dun, dun- taking the annoying twerp with them.
"You're not lying." Sylar sounded surprised. Luke leaned closer, leering at her. "Good to know."
Claire rolled her eyes, shifting uncomfortably. Call her crazy-but she wasn't really into sharing her personal life with a psychopath and his would-be creepy sidekick. "You know, I kind of thought you were together." Luke commented from the backseat. Claire's head whipped around, her blond hair slapping Luke in the face. The look on her face was pure disbelief.
"You're kidding me, right?" Luke shook his head, smiling at the reaction he'd gotten out of her. "He's twice my age!"
"Hey, I am not twice you're age." Sylar defended. "It's only a..." He paused, thinking it through. "..12 year difference."
"Yeah," Claire chuckled bitterly, "..only."
"Hey, at least you still have me." Luke called cheerfully.
"I'm overjoyed." Claire said flatly.
"So...Why are you here then?" Luke asked conversationally. "I mean, if you're not like, together."
"Oh you know," Claire replied with insincere cheerfulness, "crazy psychopath forces girl to choose between letting her dad or grandmother die, girl chooses to give herself up as hostage, psychopath brings her along on crazy roadtrip to find parents...You know, the usual."
"So, why are you single, Claire?" Sylar asked in a slightly stilted tone. "If memory serves, I remember all the guys being into cheerleaders. Or were they just creeped out by the fact that you can grow back your toes?" He flashed her a predatory smile.
"You can?" An amazed Luke called from the backseat. "That's so cool!"
They both ignored him. "I haven't actually had time for dating recently." Claire snapped back. "I'm usually too busy running away from creepy serial killers who like scalping people."
"True." She saw a half-smirk stretch across his face in the darkness and she rolled her eyes. Only he would be amused by that. "I hate you." She muttered under her breath. He smiled fully.
"34 times and counting." He sing-songed, and Claire let her head fall to the window with a thunk. She really hated him. But somehow, she was smiling. Not widely, but still. She was smiling.
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Tracy tapped her feet anxiously on the sandy, gravelly ground in front of her. She hated this place. She could feel Peter's breath on the back of her neck, and it was really annoying her. He was so clingy. Or maybe it was just part of the plan that they had to stay close together, or... She rubbed her head. This was so tiring. She massaged her head gently, trying to erase the frown lines that had undoubtedly formed.
Her heart sped up as she saw yellow headlights flash into view. Here he was. "What do I do if something goes wrong?" She asked, twiddling her thumbs. He was her back-up plan after all.
"I'll be right here." Peter re-assured her. "But get close to him, okay? Use your powers." A trace of fear edged it's way into Tracy's heart as she watched him get out of the car. "God, what if I kill him?" She pulled at a strand of loose white-blond hair that had fallen from her impromptu ponytail.
"You're not going to." Peter's voice was firm. "Just disable him. We get him, we use him as leverage against the government." Tracy bit her lip. Peter's plan wouldn't work; the government had a strict policy against negotiating with terrorists, and besides, if Nathan had really went up the rope with this, what was stopping them from just carrying out Nathan's idea without Nathan? She shook her head at Peter's naivety. Amateurs. But then again, there weren't that many options. She vaguely heard Peter's voice whispering to her something about Nathan not being his brother anymore and not being her boyfriend, and she rolled her eyes at that. She may still care about Nathan a little, but it wasn't really what she was worried about. She was more worried about how she was going to get out of this, and what she was going to do and how this was going to go, and... She felt Peter give her slight nudge forward and she walked out into Nathan's periphal vision.
Tracy took cautious steps toward him, playing with her fingernails and glancing around nervously; she didn't trust him for a minute. "I came alone. Just like you asked." Nathan's voice draws her eyes back to his. He looked...Different. His hair was dishevelled, and the frown lines that she had only glimpsed on rare occasions were deeper than usual. She smiled inwardly. He was nervous. Good.
"Where's Peter?" He asked, glancing around the heavily wooded area.
Tracy's eyes glinted in the headlights. "I've got him." She said tightly. "I told him you offered us amnesty. He'll come out when he knows he's safe." The lies rolled right off her tongue, and Nathan caught them instantly. Peter would never give in like that. He would fight for what he deemed was right until the very end. He was Peter, after all. "It'd like I told you; you deliver me Peter and I give you your life back. You'll be surrounded by your friends and go back to playing house with the Governor. Nobody has to get hurt." She doesn't like something in his voice, and she feels her hands turn blissfully cold. But still...It sounds so good, and if it only takes giving up Peter... She lets the layer of frost in her hands thin.
"You must know I'd assume this was a trap." Nathan begun carefully, not wanting to push her over the edge. "But I came anyway, Tracy, for you. The offer still stands." He rushed to re-assure her. "You deliver me Peter, you get to go free." Tracy let herself brush of the traces of alarm rushing through her system at that particular tone of voice, willing herself to believe him. Nathan walked toward her, reaching a hand out to her. Tracy froze, unable to believe him completely, but wanting to so much.
"You're serious?" She asked, begging him to tell her 'yes, Tracy, I am.' Begging him to be the guy who had saved her in what seemed like a very long time ago.
She saw his eye twitch, and he gritted his teeth. "Tracy, I am not the devil you think I am. Someone like you I can trust. You and I, we think alike." Peter snorted from behind the tree he was hiding behind. "Peter's..." He heard Nathan say, and trail off. "He's unpredictable." He finished. Peter smirked. Politicians hated the 'unpredictable'. He took great pride in that. "He thinks he's going to save the world, but that's not what's going to happen. He's going to wind up getting all of you killed..." Peter's blood boiled. He wasn't the little kid with rose-tinted glasses anymore, why couldn't anyone see that? The only one who actually treated him like he knew what he was doing was Claire, and she hadn't really talked to him in...A while. His thoughts drifted to his niece. She had been mad, he knew, when he told her she was going to become a villain; like there was nothing she could do about it. And he knew that Claire absolutely despised being told what to do. She and Sylar were so alike sometimes, he thought to himself, chuckling darkly as he thought of Claire's reaction if he told her that. She'd probably kill him or something. He strained to hear what Nathan was saying. "All of you..." He re-emphasised. He saw Tracy waver and he knew it was time to take action.
"What are you saying, Nathan?" He asked, stepping out from the tree and cocking his gun. "Are you telling her that I'm crazy? Demented?" Nathan's hands shot up in the air at Peter's fiery tone, but Peter knew that it was in anything but surrender. "You lock me up. You fix everything. You call off your dogs." Nathan couldn't remember the last time Peter's voice was this harsh. He almost sighed in relief when he saw him, he had been making up nightmare scenarios that Peter had died in the crash. Peter saw the lasers that meant guns before Tracy did. Asshole.
"You said you were alone." Peter heard the disappointment and betrayal clear in Tracy's broken tone. She obviously wasn't as used to all this as he was. He jerked forward, grabbing Nathan around the neck and pressing his gun to the crook of his neck. "How many times are we going to do this?" He growled at Nathan, truly fed-up with the situation.
"As many times as it takes." Nathan ground back. He could see the red dot on Peter's forehead clearly. Shit. They had a clear shot.
"Do it. Take the shot!" He heard someone yell. Danko, probably. He really hated that guy.
"Back them off." Peter ordered, his grip on Nathan tightening. "I can't do that." Nathan replied evenly. "Back them off!"His voice was louder this time, and the tone of his voice reminded Nathan of when Peter was a kid and he used to take his things. People never really did change. "It's over, Pete, give up." He ordered, as he saw the spot fix on Peter's forehead. "Take the shot!" He heard someone yell, louder than before. "No, this is just the beginning." Peter whispered into Nathan's ear. "Take the damn shot!" Danko practically shrieked. Nathan felt something strange and unfamiliar seep through him, and then Peter's hands were gone from around his neck and he felt a whooshing sound behind him. He looked up just in time to see Peter disappear into the night sky. Damn it! "Take her!" He ordered, his fist curling. Great. Now he was sure Peter was going to start some kind of revolution, a revolution against him. And there was another thing he was sure of as he glanced up at the dark blue sky. There was going to be blood; and lots of it. He shuddered at the thought. He only hoped they would all be ready for it.
He heard Tracy screaming behind him, and he averted his eyes. He didn't want to see the cold judgement, the betrayal he would surely find in her eyes. Instead, he turned to Noah and Danko. "What the hell was that?" Danko glared at Nathan as he walked past him, then turned to turn the full force of it on Noah. "I told you, I didn't have it." Noah muttered back, meeting Nathan's eyes.
"I saw it." He commented softly as Noah walked by him. "You had Peter cold." Noah's eyes were indifferent, cold and distant. "Yes, I did." There wasn't a trace of regret in his voice, just a little judgement. Because, no matter how terrible a thing Noah did, it was always to protect his family, forget about the world and let it burn. Nathan looked away. "Thank you." He mumbled. There was nothing else he could gave him a small nod before turning and walking away. Noah doubted that Claire would ever forgive him if he killed Peter. Nathan looked up just in time to see Noah give him a long, hard look as if trying to figure something out, before he turned away, not looking back. He was glad he had kept Noah here instead of sending him after Sylar and Claire. From what he heard, all the agents he had sent out had been injured and he needed Noah to be in op form. The Sylar situation had to be controlled. What gave him a tiny jolt of happiness was that Claire had been spotted, and she was said to have looked unhurt...But for how much longer? Nathan shivered in the cold air. There were alot of questions to be answered, and he wasn't so sure if he wanted the answers.
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Peter smiled slightly as he saw Hiro, Ando, Matt and Mohinder walking towards each other. A feeling of familiarity shot through him and he felt like hugging all of them briefly. He was so happy to have all these people fighting with him; or anyone, really. No matter what, he was sure that all of them would always be fighting on the same side. At least he hoped so. He felt his feet hit the ground, and wasted no time in running towards them. He tugged his phone out of his pocket.
"Toss all your cell phones." He ordered, not wasting time with greetings. "This is the last time we get together using these things. If we can find each other, so can they." He paused, briefly looking up at his comrades. "I figure we have fifteen minutes." Mohinder nodded, gathering some sketches and laying them out on the table. "What are these?" He said, looking at them closely. There were four all together. The first one he saw was of Hiro, somehere in...India, perhaps? holding out his hands in front of a woman in an obviously defensive stance. "I recognise this building; it's the Divya Velukkai in New Dehli." He heard Mohinder say to Hiro. His attention was too wrapped up in another picture with him and Mohinder holding up what looked like an older version of Claire, Matt trailing behind them with a gun in his hand..He frowned, not knowing what to make of that.
His eyes trailed over the other two pictures curiously. The third was Ando and a girl with short, blonde hair sitting on a park bench. The fourth was a girl that looked slightly like Claire lying down on a couch, her legs propped up on an dark haired man's lap, who was quite unmistakably Sylar. He was kneading the soles of her feet while the girl looked up at him with an expression of slight alarm. He blinked. That didn't make sense at all. It couldn't be Claire. He shook his head, shoving the picture aside. It was time to rally the troops.
"What they're doing isn't justice, it's stupid. It's blind fear." Matt was saying. Peter nodded in agreement.
"If you don't want to see them punished, what do you want?" Mohinder asked, looking slightly confused.
"I want them to pay, for Daphne." Ando flinched at her name, and stepped away from the table they were gathered at as if he had been burned. Peter noted this, wondering what was the story there.
He was slightly alarmed at the tone in Matt's voice. He didn't like the idea of revemge and anger; it made people stupid and reckless, but they needed all the motivation they could get right now, good or bad.
"Matt, that's not us; that's not you." Mohinder's answer was immediate and firm. Matt didn't say anything, just looked away. Peter took this as his cue to take over.
"Let's get one thing straight; our lives as we knew them are over. We can't go back to anything that we knew."
Ando spoke up, looking accepting, but still slightly pained. "Then what do we do?"
Matt spoke up this time. "We bring the fight to them. With everything that we got." Peter smiled. Now they were getting started.
"Won't be easy," He warned. "Credit cards, bank accounts, they're gone. Homes are going to be watched, can't trust the phones." He took a deep breath. "We gotta find away to defend ourselves." He took another deep breath, trying to focus what he was about to say. "We leave everything. We do what it takes to survive." He met all of their eyes, seeing in them what he felt. Determination, anger, fear. "Things we can't even imagine. Remember, they're gonna come for us, and when that day comes, we have to be ready." Hiro was the first to nod in agreement, Matt second, Ando third and Mohinder fourth. Peter smiled a grim smile. They were in this together, for better...And for worse.
You trembled like you'd seen a ghost
And I gave in
I lack the things you need the most, you said where have you been
You wasted all that sweetness to run and hide
I wonder why
I remind you of the days you poured your heart into
But you never tried
I've fallen from grace
Took a blow to my face
I've loved and I've lost
I've loved and I've lost
Explosions...on the day you wake up
Needing somebody and you've learned
It's okay to be afraid
But it will never be the same
It will never be the same
Explosions-Ellie Goulding
Somewhere in Allentown...
Claire stared out the window uneasily, shoulders rigid. Sylar glanced over at her from the driver's seat, eyebrows raised. "Why so tense?" He asked bemusedly, making a right at the corner of the street. He could see the flashing lights of a no-tell motel, exactly what he needed. "Luke fell asleep half-an-hour ago."
"What? Am I supposed to be comforted that there's only one concious psychopath in the car now?" Claire snapped back, slumping back in her seat.
"Touch'e." He smirked, honking twice to wake Luke up. He pulled into an empty lot in the small carpark beside the motel, and Claire immediately jumped out.
"Wha...?" Luke's bleary voice sounded from the behind him.
"Get out." Sylar pushed open the door, not bothering to see if Luke followed him. He was tired, and he just wanted to get some sleep. Maybe annoy Claire a little, but mainly..Sleep.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw headlights flash, and for a second, he thought the driver looked slightly familiar, but when he looked over, the car was gone. He rubbed his eyes blearily, making his way over to the check-in counter. "One room, two beds." He said, shooting Claire a smug grin. She glared back, muttering something prolific underneath her breath. He laughed out loud.
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Claire was angry and tired. It looked like she wouldn't be getting a bed either this time, she thought to herself, frustrated and annoyed. Luke had claimed one of the two beds the minute they walked through the door, saying that the only way she was getting the bed was if she shared it with him. And she would die(no matter how hard to achieve that might be), before she did that. The other bed, obviously went to Sylar, and she was left with the small, dusty couch. She sighed, too tired to fight and dumped the bag of clothes they had bought at Target on the floor. She needed a shower. A knock at the door drew her away from her sleep-centered thoughts, and she answered it without thinking. Her mouth dropped open when she saw who it was. "Mom?" Her voice whispered.
"Meredith, what a pleasure." A deep, sarcastic drawl came from behind her and Claire jumped backwards, almost falling into Sylar's arms. She turned to face him, eyes wide with terror. He shot her the same bemused smirk.
"I thought I was imagining it when I saw you earlier." Sylar said, crossing his arms and leaning against the doorframe. "Now I know I was right."
Meredith didn't say anything, she just stared at Claire with a glassy-eyed look that Claire couldn't read.
"So what are you here for Meredith?" Sylar continued, studying the blonde-haired woman critically. "It must be a good reason, I'm sure you know that even Claire, persistent as she is, can't stop me from killing you that many times." He glared at Claire, but Claire didn't notice, still frozen in place with terror. He was right, she couldn't stop him from killing her if he really wanted to, that much he had proved. Her heart sank.
Meredith's eyes shifted to Sylar's, becoming as hard as steel. "I want my daughter."
Sylar chuckled darkly. "You can't always get what you want. Leave." He ordered, something dark glinting is his eyes. "I don't particularly want or need your power, but if you don't leave right now..." He grinned dangerously. "I'd be happy to take it off you." Claire watched the conversation with wide eyes.
"You don't have any use for her." Meredith countered.
"On the contrary, she has many uses." He smirked. "She always manages to bring along a party of interesting people. You, for example..I'm sure Peter will be turning up soon, maybe Noah...Not Nathan, though." He snorted. "He really is a pathetic father, isn't he?" He gave her an appraising glance. "I'm sure you must have been relieved when he left you for...What's her name?..Heidi?" He taunted, and Meredith's fists clenched. "Most of all, by taking her, I get revenge on all of you..I can see the attraction. She's ripe, pure, indestructable...Special..." He laughed darkly. "The perfect daughter."
Meredith's temper flared. "Nathan didn't seem so pathetic when he sent those agents after you." It sounded pathetic, but it's really the only thing out of all he said that she can really defend.
Sylar narrowed his eyes at her. "You're not lying."
"He sent all those agents...For me?" They both glance at Claire then, and even Sylar has to wince when he heard the blind hope and disbelief in her voice. It seemed like he wasn't the only one with daddy issues. Meredith on the other hand, felt a hot, burning flame with prickly claws spread through her. Jealousy. She couldn't help it, though. She's the one who's standing in front of this dingy motel room, risking her life to save her, and Claire was still...She doesn't even know how to describe it...Starry-eyed when it came to Nathan? Righteous anger shot through her. Especially because of what he's doing now, a nasty voice whispered in her ear, it's really just my duty to tell her what her father is doing.
"No, not just for you," Meredith practically snarled, and even a deaf person could hear the spite in her voice, or at least, that's how Claire felt. At Meredith's harsh tone, Claire felt like the floor was being pulled from under her, and all she could do was try to keep her balance. "He's going after all of us, all the Special people." She turned to Sylar, eyes glittering spitefully. "He's probably the only reason he sent so many."
There was a beat of silence, and Meredith realised what she'd just said. "Claire, I..." The silence hung between them and Meredith wished she could take it back.
Claire's mind blurred with questions. How could it be true? Was it true? Was Meredith lying? Did Meredith even have her facts right? Would Nathan really do that to her? To Peter? To all of them? The more she thought about it, it kind of made sense. She didn't want it to, but... He and Angela had wanted to blow up New York city, just so he could be President...It wasn't that far off...
"Claire, I'm-" Claire cut her off.
"How do you know all this?" Claire asked, trying to regain her composure. She wasn't going to cry in front of Sylar. She wasn't.
Meredith seemed discomfitted talking in front of Sylar, but she told Claire anyway. "Noah told me."
Claire gave a breathy laugh. Of course. Her dad. Always managing to get in the middle of things.
Claire turned away from them both, hurrying down the steps to the parking lot. "Claire, I'm-" Claire whipped around, blonde hair flying against her face.
"What?" Claire snapped. "You're sorry?" Meredith opened her mouth but no words came out. "Sorry that I have Nathan for a father?" Meredith still didn't say anything. "Yeah, I am too." And then she turned and ran. Meredith stood frozen on the steps, torn between chasing after Claire and turning tail and running away.
"Leave." Sylar's voice brought her back to the moment. Turning tail and running seemed like a good idea right about now. Meredith closed her eyes in defeat.
"Can I just say goodby-" Sylar cut her off.
"No, you can't. And I doubt she wants to talk to you right now." Sylar's voice was cool, calm and deadly. She was almost certain of what would happen if she refused to obey him. A picture of her with the top of her skull missing flashed through her mind. She was halfway down the steps when Sylar's voice rang out again.
"And Meredith?" She froze. "If I see you again, I can gurantee you that you'll be missing several body parts." The ice in his voice was clear, every syllable dripping with promise. She couldn't run fast enough. The thing is, she wasn't sure who she was running from. Sylar, or Claire?
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Sylar stepped out of the shower, feeling refreshed. He ran the thin towel through his hair, slipping into his clean, brand new clothes with ease. It felt so good to be in something he hadn't worn for more than two days.
He stepped through the bathroom door, checking to see if Claire was back yet. The room was still cheerleader free. Luke had fallen asleep on his bed, and was now snoring loudly. Sylar rolled his eyes. Typical.
He understood though, why Claire had run. Sometimes the truth really does sting like a bitch. In a way, he felt sorry for her. He had managed to escape that family. She was stuck with them. He heard someone sobbing, crying earnestly, somewhere in the parking lot if he had to guess. Claire. Before he knew it, he was walking towards the sound. He chalked it up to the fact that he had never really seen Claire crying before.
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Claire hugged her jean-clad knees to her chest, letting herself cry earnestly, for the first time in... Well, actually since Sylar had taken her power. She couldn't even remember when that had been. She frowned up at the sky. There were no stars. She remembered her dad, her real dad, not Nathan, teaching her about Venus, Mars, all the constellations when she was younger. She missed him so much. Lyle too. Sandra, her real mom. She cried harder, leaning against the car behind her.
"Hey." Sylar.
"Could you just go away?" Claire tried to wipe all traces of tears away from her face. She hated being weak in front of him. Or anybody, really. "Or come back later, when I''ve got energy to hate you." She hid her face in her hands, waiting for him to leave.
"Nah, I'm good." Came his reply.
"God, I really do hate you." She muttered, pulling her knees in closer to her face. Sylar chuckled, hands shoved in his pockets awkwardly. He wasn't even sure why he'd come down here. As much as he loved to tease her, when she was like this... He wasn't that bad of a guy.
He turned to leave. She stopped him. "Wait..."
He turned to her, eyebrows raised. She bit her lip, hesitating. Throwing caution to the wind, she did something incredibly...crazy. "Just...I need someone to talk to right now."
"And you want that someone to be me?" The incredulity in his voice was obvious, and really, who could blame him?
"Just..." Claire bit her lip and glared at him. "..I'll do the talking, 'kay?"
He shrugged, sitting down and leaning against the car opposite her. This should be interesting.
The words started to leave her mouth in a rush. "This has to be the worst few weeks of my life! I'm spending it with you, for one, and now there's some mini-you-wannabe tagging along which we picked up after torturing a person!" Claire let out a teary, strangled laugh. "And then my mom..." She ahook her head, "shows up out of the blue, and tells me that my dad, is rounding all of us up, and doing who-knows-what with them, and 'cause I'm stuck here with you, I can't do anything about it!" She put her head in her hands, and Sylar could hear all the tiny sobs she was trying to hold back from him echoing through his ears. He didn't know what to say, what to do with such honesty. He had never really had many friends or girlfriends and he had no idea what to do with the crying Claire in front of him.
"Urmm..." Claire looked up at him, looking incredulous.
"Urmm? That's all you have to say?! Especially since most of my situation is your fault?!"
Sylar struggled for an answer, when something occured to him. He threw his head back, laughing heartily.
Claire stared at him through narrowed eyes. "What's so funny?"
He managed to stop laughing, a big, shit-eating grin on his face. "No, it's just when you said it like that..." He choked back a laugh, "it sounded like you were my pregnant girlfriend who I knocked up, and you just gave me the news." He broke into another spurt of laughter. Claire stared at him for a moment, before she let out a small chuckle. Then another one, and another one, until she was laughing just as hard as Sylar. After a few minutes, the laughter died down and was replaced by awkward silence. Well, it was awkward for Sylar at least. He'd never really...Joked around with one of his former victims, and he wasn't exactly sure what the protocol was...
Claire broke the silence, by saying exactly what he had been thinking. "Bet you never did this before, huh?" She made a face at him, and he couldn't help but grin. He liked this version of Claire much better than the Peter-with-attitude mini she usually was.
"Anyway, I'm sorry." She made another face, and he noticed how her eyes were going slightly droopy. "When I get like this, I need someone to..." She yawned, and rubbed her eyes before continuing, "..talk to otherwise I'll just go mad, and..." She yawned again, her eyes drooping a little more. He watched curiously. All that crying must have made her rather tired, he concluded, and she stayed up all night cursing at me the day before...He watched as Claire's eyes closed fully and her breathing slowed to a more natural pace. He could have laughed. No matter how grown up she acted during the day, she was still like a little girl, tired out after a temper tantrum. He sighed, rising from the ground. He stared at her, wondering just how he's going to manage this one... Finally, he huffed, and wrapped one arm around her back, and a second one under her knees, in that classic hero move. He managed his way into the room, and momentarily hesitated before huffing again and telekinetically rolling back the covers of the bed Luke wasn't occupying and setting the sleeping Claire down. He ran a hand through his hair, and fell back onto the creaky, overly-soft sofa behind him, trying his best to ignore the fact that his feet were hanging quite obviously over the edge of the sofa.
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Meredith placed the phone shakily on the dahboard of the car, and pressed the record button. "Claire... " She started, hesitating. "I really am sorry for what I said. I was mad, and I didn't think. I'm sorry for a lot of things...Not being able to save you from Sylar, for one...For not being a better mother, for not being able to tell you this in person..." Meredith choked back an unexplicable wave of tears, and continued, "I just wanted you to know, that I love you. And I'm sure Nathan does too. I hope you'll manage to escape or maybe he'll let you go, or maybe I'll even find a way to save you..." Meredith grinned shakily into the camera and let a flame burst to her hand, remembering their first meeting. "I still have a trick or too under my sleeve, you know..." She held back another wave of fresh tears. "So, goodbye, I guess, for now. I really do love you." Meredith clicked the stop button, and marched into the motel's shabby lobby. She placed the phone on the counter, ordering the clerk to give it to the occupants of room 2B when they checked out. And then, with a final glance in the rearview mirror, she was gone. And she wasn't entirely sure where she was going.
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Okay, that's it...*pants* I'm done! Finally! I thought I'd never finish that chapter! WHEEEEEEEEEEE! Thanks so much to cerberus angel for helping me with that last scene, you are awesomeness! And to julyisfree who inspired me to get my act together and finish this chap with her amaaazing preview for My Neighbour The Serial Killer, which got me all hopped up on Sylaire-ness;) THANK YOU!
As always, please check out julyisfree, cerberus angel, Purple Lex, Anei, PenAreAwesome and a new Sylaire writer, justforme83;) She is amazing, BTW:))) And if you could leave a review, that would be amazingness;)