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lonestarclaire (lonestarclaire) wrote in parabolical,
@ 2009-06-30 15:38:00

Entry tags:

claire bennet, nathan petrelli

Who: Claire Bennet and Nathan Petrelli
What: Checking up
Where: Nathans Office, Hyperion
When: 30th June 2006, Afternoon
Rating: Low
Status: In Progress

Things had just been starting to get okay too. Annie's friends had shown up, SBC was happy with Dean, and everyone was getting back to some level of normalcy. LA Normalcy anyway. But then everything with Sam that was getting to SBC and now Angela was gone, and Hiro and Gabriel...she wasn't sure how she was supposed to feel about that but she knew there were people like Nathan and Peter that would be upset over it, she knew Nathan was upset over it. Of course he was. He'd gone out yesterday for hours and hours, needed to get away and that was alright, but Claire was gonna worry anyway. Its what she did.

Hence bringing him the coffee, the very very scary strong Petrelli brand coffee in her hands as she walked towards his office. She had wanted to discuss the idea of working for him and how they'd set that up but right now she just wanted to make sure he was okay. The rest could wait a while.

She knocked on the door of the office

"Nathan, can I come in?"

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selfpropelled
2009-07-01 04:43 am UTC (link)

Burying himself in work had always been a coping mechanism for Nathan, long before he'd discovered he could fly under his own power and harness the freedom and release piloting a jet had once granted. He'd used the distance flight last night much like Peter had done, much like they had in the past, to work off the worst of what losing Gabriel, Hiro and Angela had done, and then Nathan had come home, to Heidi. Since then, it had been nose to the grindstone in the office that was verging on dangerously disorganized, nearly to the point of needing another intervention by Heidi.

But there were still people here, and he had to remember that, and not just those he'd grown close to from this world and others, but his family too.

Including the daughter knocking at the door.

Pushing his pen away, he stood up and rolled his shoulders, checking the clock to find the afternoon had already gotten away from him. The coffee on his desk had long since gotten cold, which made him appreciate what she was carrying that much more when he opened the door.

"Come on in," he said with a nod inward, pulling the door open the entire way before he rested his hand on her shoulder to guide her inside.

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lonestarclaire
2009-07-01 10:29 am UTC (link)

Claire let him lead her inside the office smiling just slightly as she handed him the coffee and looked around at the slightly chaotic looking scene. Files upon files. Well SBC did office managey stuff, so she didn't see why she couldn't.

And he looked like he could do with the help.

"Petrelli Grade Coffee" she told him amused, "You know I think I'm finally mastering the making of the scary coffee"

She was only gonna ask what she did next the once, but she hoped he'd answer her with more than an avoident 'fine'. She knew going flying was generally the coping mechanism of choice, and she knew it worked for him and for Peter both. But even with that he had lost good friends, not to mention his mother.

"How're you doing?"

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selfpropelled
2009-07-02 10:53 am UTC (link)

Accepting the coffee, Nathan tasted it immediately. "Perfect," he said, approval warming his voice. Sitting down on the sofa in the office, he patted the spot beside him before going back to the coffee, drinking for a short time before he'd formulated an answer that was honest without being overly burdening.

"Not that great without distractions," he finally said, gaze falling on the wall across from him. In the various frames in the space not occupied by bookshelves were snapshots of moments over the year Nathan had been here, among them many people who were gone, like Charlie, Hiro, Gabriel and the earlier version of his mother. He still couldn't bring himself to take any of them down.

"Ma I know'll be fine back in her own time. The others..." Gabriel was being sent back to before it all began. Would he remember and create a new timeline like the timeline the swapped Gabriel had come from or was everything here all for nothing? And Hiro, back to that godforsaken alternate future...

Nathan closed his eyes and then opened them again. "What about you, how are you doing?"

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lonestarclaire
2009-07-02 11:08 am UTC (link)

Perfect huh?. She could live with that, the two paternal influences in her life being who they were she'd have been suprised if she didn't make the perfect coffee by now. She took the offered place on the couch beside Nathan and continued to worry about him as he spoke, honestly though, more for what he didn't say than what he did. Her Grandmother would be fine, It was the other two, Hiro to that world that SBC and Peter knew. Where there was so much badness, where Kirby Plaza had gone very very differently. And Gabriel...

"I'm sure he'll remember enough to not become...y'know...him." she said, the memories of Sylar and that day in her home in Costa Verde still very fresh in her mind. She'd found the ability to be civil to Gabriel but she didn't think she could ever have crossed the line into friends the way the others had. She'd known they weren't the same, but sometimes she'd just look at him and remember. But there was a chance for this Gabriel. "People go and come back with memories, so maybe he'll remember"

Hiro...there was nothing she could say. SBC had told her enough about her life that she couldn't tell Nathan, Hiro would be okay. But she figured he knew she cared even asking how she was. It was sad to loose them but it hadn't hurt her like it had when her Dad had gone.

"I'm fine, I mean I'll miss them but I guess I never got as close to them as you did. And like you said Angela will be fine back home. Does cement my theory that this place is just cruel."

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selfpropelled
2009-07-03 08:52 am UTC (link)

Maybe. It was a lot riding on maybes, as far as Nathan was concerned, but there wasn't much that could be done about it. There had been attempts in the past to undo what the PTB had done, completely outside the recent swapping situation, and that had only proven that they could try and cheat the system, but those individuals would still end up send back. Nathan could only hold to the small hope that even if Gabriel remembered nothing, his control of his ability still remained beneath the forgotten memories.

"The place?" Nathan said, shaking his head slightly. "No. The PTB, the Senior Partners, yes, but not this place." There had been a time he'd intensely disliked this place, early on when he was still coming to grips with the fantastical being reality and the danger being constant. That period had been there, but it hadn't lasted because the trials and obstacles had taught him important lessons, one of which was to be thankful for this place because of what it had given him that he would never had gotten at home, not just in personal revelations, but in family.

He turned his head, giving her a soft smile. "I can't look at you sitting here and ever say this place is cruel."

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lonestarclaire
2009-07-03 03:46 pm UTC (link)

Claire returned the smile, she'd felt comfortable calling him her father and Heidi her stepmom for ages now, and she was even getting used to being here without her Mom and Dad to turn to. Nathan had been there for her and she was hoping she could return the favour now when the family should stick together.

"I guess thats true." she decided, this place had given her a lot, her relationship with her father and his family, SBC, Peter, her friends. "And y'know, I like that I get to help people with the patrols and with the blood and stuff. I just wish there was more I could do. Thats why I wanted to ask you about helping out with your work. I honestly didn't expect a job out of it but...maybe it'd be an idea. I was considering getting my qualifications and maybe going for Legal Secretary part time, what would you think?"

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selfpropelled
2009-07-06 09:10 am UTC (link)

Surprise at her statement was clear in Nathan's body language, from eyebrows lifted just a bit higher to the way he turned to face her completely. When she'd mentioned helping him, he had assumed that it was meant to be a job that could fit alongside her other interests, from A.I. to cheerleading. He hadn't imagined she might take a professional interest in it

All the time Charlie had spent working for him, Nathan had predicted it would quickly lead to paralegal certifications because her enhanced memory made her a perfect candidate for passing tests with flying colors. He'd grown closer to Charlie over all those moments, so her moving beyond just a secretary had meant something to him, but there was, far and away, something far more notable about his daughter taking that kind of interest.

Of course, on the heals of the pride about that came the worry about Claire feeling that she had to conform to anything, or be stuck doing something she didn't want to do one hundred percent. He wanted better for his children than the familial pressure he'd grown up with, or the feeling that one had to settle because this world wasn't quite built for 'normal'.

"I think – no, I know, you'd be great at it," he said, utter confidence warming his tone, even as concern showed elsewhere in his expression. "There are options out there besides this, is this what you really want?"

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lonestarclaire
2009-07-06 11:04 am UTC (link)

Claire figured this was coming, the questions about if it was what she really wanted, and truth be told she wasn't sure what she wanted by way of a career. But what she did know was that she cared about helping people, cared about doing something to make a difference, and this was a way to do that.

"You do a lot of good, and I like the idea of helping people beyond, y'know...injecting them with my blood. I can still do patrols, I can study part time. And it'll take me a while to get up to that level. I don't even have my diploma yet, And I'm never gonna entirely be the studious fancy degree university type, but if you're willing to give me a chance then I can promise you I'll work as hard as I can and get the qualifications I need. I think I can do it. And I want to try"

Claire knew it was gonna be hard, knew it would be complicated to learn, but it was worth it, also working with her father, hell, knowing him as well as she now did was something she never thought she would have. He was right, the city, horrible as it was sometimes had given her another side to her family. Him, Heidi and the boys. She wouldn't have given up her time getting to know them for anything. And here in front of her was a way to get closer still to the father she hadn't known for most of her life.

"I really want to try. Those other options, they're not for me. I thought about it, and I want to get on with the helping. I can patrol, I can work for you and I can study. And somehow, in that I'll fit the Cheerleading. I can make it work"

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selfpropelled
2009-07-09 07:53 am UTC (link)

It never failed to impress Nathan how dedicated his children were, whether it was one of the boys tenaciously locking on to an idea until they understood it or one of his daughters balancing an assorted list of chosen obligations. Some might say the Petrelli blood was responsible for that, and maybe it was, but the key difference here was that unlike his own father, Nathan didn't press the idea of this being necessary. Claire could just as likely do only cheerleading and he would be happy, if it meant she was pursuing something she was throwing her whole heart into.

He wanted better for his children than the weight of obligation he'd lived with since he could remember, or the dismissive assumptions and demands that Peter had been saddled with early on. While the temptation to assert his opinions because he wanted the best for them was there – not just in the way of a parent, but in those Arthur-like behaviours that he'd worked so hard to develop, in order to be like his father, and now had to essentially untrain – he found that more and more with both his daughters, he didn't need to do it. They were managing full lives all on their own.

He'd seen that this had been just as hard for his younger daughter as it had been for his older daughter, those steps to breaking out of a protective-of-self state of being to find their footing, to grow beyond who they'd been when they arrived to find the things they wanted, rather that just adapt to what was thrown at them. He'd seen it, and he was seeing her move ahead of that now.

He couldn't be more proud.

"Then we'll go with that," he said with a decided nod, then slung an arm lightly around her shoulders and offered her a slightly lopsided grin. "Are we gonna do a job interview?"

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lonestarclaire
2009-07-10 03:14 pm UTC (link)

"We could. I don't have a resume really but I could make one. Or get SBC to make one for me since she mostly did the same things?" she joked "That girl does interesting things with fonts though, dunno if you'd accept a glittery pink typed resume with sparkles"

She was more than happy to do this, to work for her father, she marvelled every day that she'd found her other family, Nathan, Heidi, the boys. They were a part of her as much as Mom, Dad and Lyle. And then there was SBC, Peter and everyone else she'd found.

"I'm so completely glad I found you, you know that. I say it every now and again but I really am."

She wanted to get started, to make him proud of her with all this, she could balance it, and the cheerleading. She looked forward to it. "Sarah said she'd get me into on courses and the High School diploma stuff, I can do it home schooled. I know I can."

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