InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "try to take over the world!"

claire winchester is not your typical superhero (goallbuffyonus) wrote in colligo_threads,
@ 2010-06-10 22:26:00

Entry tags:

!closed, ben braeden, claire winchester, dean winchester

WHO: Ben Braeden, Claire Bennet, and Dean Winchester
WHAT: Meeting and settling in.
WHEN: Right after Ben's arrival.
WHERE: Apartment #206A
RATING: TBD
STATUS: In Progress

After learning that Dean not only had a son but that the boy was in the city and on his way to her apartment, Claire left a bundle of nervous energy needing to do something useful. She wound up at the grocery store. If nothing else, she reasoned, the various games already in the apartment would keep him entertained and she wasn't about to go buy him clothes because she knew neither his size nor his style. But insofar as food went, there were certain things that kids tended to eat.

She started out with cookies. Kids liked cookies, right? She picked up some ice cream, some more chocolate milk, then realized she had enough sugar to drop a full grown man into a diabetic coma. Next came vegetables but, she reasoned, kids didn't typically like veggies all that much so maybe some fruit was a good idea. On and on she went until a simple trip to the store turned into her buying enough food to all but feed a small army. Somehow, though, she managed to get home and put it all away in time.

She had just finished pouring herself a glass of chocolate milk when she heard the front door open. Chomper immediately looked up from where he was curled up at the doorway of the kitchen. Licking her lips, Claire smoothed down her hair a bit and moved toward the foyer with a slightly nervous smile on her face, the baby raptor following curiously at her heels.

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miniwinchester
2010-06-11 03:07 am UTC (link)

Ben pushed his way around Dean and into the apartment. He looked around at the pool table, the arcade machines, the x-box. "Wow! This place is awesome! I wanna sleep out here!" Turning all the way around his eyes finally lighted on Claire and his smiled widened. "Hi," he said with a crooked little grin. "I'm Ben. You're Claire right?" He held out his hand for her to shake. "Dean said you're nice. He didn't say you were fine." He smiled up at Claire then turned back to Dean and have him a thumbs up. "Way to go!" is said rather less that subtly.

So far Ben had been tumbling from one distraction to another with no time to really think on his situation but as he slowly wanted about the apartment, taking in his new, temporary, home his shoulders sank a little. "You think mom knows where I am?" he asked, not looking at them.
"She worries 'bout me. 'Specially since the storms started." He stopped before the pinball machine and looked over his shoulder. "Can I play?" he was a little more subdued, his thoughts drifting back to home.

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righteousman
2010-06-11 05:18 pm UTC (link)

Seeing Ben again had been good. Dean had been a little worried when he'd told Claire that the boy was his son, but that worry had turned out to be unnecessary. Claire had accepted it, had welcomed the boy into their life and immediately tried to make things easier for him, and he loved her for it. Well, he loved her anyway, but this was just another reason to add to the list. Not that he kept a list, of course, because he wasn't gay.

Ben was still so much like him, even moreso than before, and he wasn't sure how Lisa had ever expected him to actually believe this kid wasn't him. It was obvious, to anyone with eyes and a working brain, that Ben was his son. He supposed Lisa just hadn't expected him to ever come back so it had been a non-issue to her. Neither of them had ever expected that he and Ben would be stranded together on an alien planet.

When they got to the apartment, he grinned as Ben reacted pretty much just like he'd expected him to. "Sure thing," he said. "At least until we get your room set up for you." He and Claire hadn't expressly discussed sharing a room and letting Ben have the other, but it seemed almost like a forgone conclusion at this point. He laughed at the boy's reaction to Claire and nodded. "Yeah," he said. "I did pretty good, didn't I?" He shot Claire a grin. "Glad you approve, kiddo." He went over and kissed Claire, because he'd been wanting to pretty much since he'd seen her reaction to Ben, then turned his attention back to his son.

His son. It was still a little weird to think of him in those terms. He'd have to check with Cas to make sure it was true. There was always the possibility that Lisa just had a really specific type, but he didn't think that was the case. "I'm sure she does," he said when Ben asked about his mom. "This place is weird, and when people show up from after us, they usually say they remember us still being there, so she probably doesn't have anything to worry about because she doesn't know you're gone." He wasn't sure what else to say and was glad when Ben was distracted by the pinball machine. "Go ahead. See if you can beat my score."

He smiled at Claire. "Hey," he said quietly. "Thank you for being so understanding about all this."

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goallbuffyonus
2010-06-11 08:45 pm UTC (link)

Even if Dean hadn't already told her, Claire would have known that Ben was his son within about ten seconds of meeting him. Not only did they look alike but the boy also apparently had his father's personality. She smiled and gave a fond shake of her head at the thumbs up and replied simply with, "It's nice to meet you, Ben." Then she fell silent and let Dean have the tough task of explaining the craziness that was Colligo.

To say she felt bad for Ben would be an understatement. Not having his mom there had to be tough. She idly wondered if Lisa would show up as others were apt to do once some of their loved ones were here. She thought about how grateful she was that her dad was back and how she still missed her mom, and she was supposed to be a grown-up. It had to be ten times worse for a child.

Blinking, she pulled herself from her thoughts when Dean spoke. She smiled back at him. "Why wouldn't I be?" she asked lightly, making sure to keep her voice quiet. Her gaze slid to Ben then back to Dean. She met his gaze and her smile softened. "It's not like you were secretly married to her and had this whole family you never told me about." At least, she hoped not. That would probably get a much stronger reaction from her. "Besides," she tacked on, "this is my chance to be completely awesome. No way am I going to blow it."

With a teasing grin she looked past him, to Ben. "And don't listen to Dean," she spoke up. "He's not half as great at pinball as he thinks. I beat his high score a few days ago."

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miniwinchester
2010-06-12 01:29 am UTC (link)

"You rule at pinball too?" Ben asked Claire. His face took on a thoughtful caste. "How do you feel about younger men?" He asked, walking back to them. He looked up at Dean. "You don't mind if I take her out sometimes right? Jo has a bar, maybe she'll let us go there? She's nice too. She sat with me for ages. I think I should take her out too and show her a good time." He looked around the apartment again. "Maybe at the arcane. They have them right?"

That sorted Ben's eyes strayed to the kitchen. "You got poptarts?" he moved in that direction, not wanting to sit still for a moment. He opened the cupboard and started browsing the shelves. "Cool! Cocoa puffs." He turned to look at the adult. "You got these for me right? Or do yo still eat 'em." He gave them an appraising look, apparently their choice of cereal was gravely important.

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goallbuffyonus
2010-06-13 03:57 am UTC (link)

Claire couldn't help but grin at Ben's offer to take her out. Glancing at Dean, she gave a fond shake of her head before looking back to the boy as he began going through the kitchen. She felt a slight twist in her gut - a small spike of worry that he would find the things she bought to be lacking somehow - but it turned out to be unfounded.

"We've got Poptarts," she spoke up, trailing after him and pausing in the doorway. "Chocolate, cinnamon and brown sugar, strawberry, and blueberry." What could she say? She hadn't wanted to risk not getting a type he liked. Although she hoped he liked the ones with icing because the plain ones were just plain gross, in her opinion. She smiled once more.

"And the Cocoa Puffs are a staple around here, actually, but I bought an extra couple of boxes to make sure we don't run out." She tipped her head toward the cabinet. "There's also a couple of other kinds of cereal in case you get tired of those." Not that she could see how anyone could get tired of Cocoa Puffs but he was a kid. They were fickle, sometimes.

Feeling a nudge at her leg, she glanced down and grinned at Chomper before looking back to Ben. "Also," she added, "Try not to feed Chomper anything chocolate. He thinks he likes it but it always winds up hurting his stomach. And he will steal your food if you aren't careful."

As if being prompted, the small raptor all but dashed to Ben's side and peered up at him. He made a faint whining sound and tilted his head a bit to the side. Claire snorted lightly. "That's his begging face," she informed the boy.

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righteousman
2010-06-13 06:54 am UTC (link)

"She is pretty awesome," Dean told Ben, "but she also hasn't checked the pinball scores in the past twenty-four hours." That was how they were. They never told each other when they beat the other's score. They just waited until the other noticed. He gave Ben a mock serious look. "And no stealing my girl. I know you she's pretty much the coolest girl ever, but you can't have her. Focus on Jo. She's available." This had to be the weirdest father-son conversation ever.

He looked back at Claire. "Okay, you're totally nicer to him than me," he said, because he definitely didn't remember having that many types of Poptarts yesterday. "And yeah. We like Cocoa Puffs around here. They're the cereal of choice." He grinned at Claire mentioned Chopper, and looked over at Ben. "Did I mention we have a pet raptor?" he asked casually. Yeah, he was definitely the coolest dad ever.

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miniwinchester
2010-06-13 01:43 pm UTC (link)

Ben looked very thoughtfully at Dean, his hand still on the box of strawberry poptarts. His face was thoughtful, as if he was coming to a difficult and important decision. Finally he nodded. "Jo's pretty fine. I'll see if she wants to come to the arcade tomorrow. Then I can buy her a burger 'cause it's my turn." He released the poptarts and took up the cereal, there was more of that. "Mom has this muesli stuff. It's boring. I think horses eat it." He fell silent again, put the cereal back. He suddenly wasn't hungry any more.

He left the kitchen, wandered back to the lounge. "I'll just-" but he didn't get to finish the sentence. Chopper had scuttled across the floor, was looking up at a suddenly astonished Ben. At first the boy tensed in shock when he saw it wasn't a dog or cat but that only lasted a moment. When he saw what it was, when he recognised it, his mouth fell open in astonishment. "Is this a- there are dinosaurs here. No way!" He dropped to his knees, his hands scratching the raptor's head excitedly. Chopper didn't seem to object too seriously. "It's not real right? I mean... it can't be real," he said, even as he touched the Raptor's head.

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goallbuffyonus
2010-06-13 03:30 pm UTC (link)

Claire felt a swell of empathy for the boy as the mention of his mom's favorite cereal made his entire mood changed. She could empathize, certainly. There were times, when her dad had gone back home, that the thought of sushi made her want to cry. She didn't even eat that much sushi, but she knew it was one of her dad's favorites and that had been enough. Before she could dwell on the subject for too long, though, Dean had always found some way to cheer her up. Just like he managed to do with Ben... with Chomper's help, of course.

Laughing lightly, Claire nodded and moved toward the dinosaur and boy. "He's very real," she assured Ben with a grin. "This place... crazy things happen, sometimes, and one time dinosaurs showed up. We found Chomper and decided to keep him and, when the other dinosaurs went away, he stayed." She smiled a bit brighter as the raptor pressed his head against Ben's hand and began making a soft grunting sound as though seeking out more contact.

"He won't bite but he will chew on your stuff if you don't watch him," she explained. "He's still a baby, though, so he's learning." Not that that mattered much when you were trying to wrestle a shoe away from a playful raptor, of course.

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righteousman
2010-06-19 07:17 am UTC (link)

"I say that's a good plan," Dean said with a grin. "You show Jo a good time and treat her like a lady, okay?" He bit back a sigh as Ben talked about Lisa. "I remember that stuff," he told Ben with a small smile. "It tastes boring too." He reached over and ruffled Ben's hair, then smiled as he got distracted by Chomper.

"He's real," he assured the boy, grinning as Ben pet the raptor. "Just be careful. He doesn't quite bite, but he can play a little rough. Kind of like an overeager puppy. And if there's anything you really like, keep it off the floor or up on the shelves so he doesn't eat it. We haven't quite taught him that not everything is food. You should have seen him the first time he realized electrical cords aren't fun to chew on." He shot Claire a grin. They didn't suck at this. "Just bop him on the nose with a newspaper if he misbehaves."

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miniwinchester
2010-06-20 04:35 am UTC (link)

"Course I will," Ben said, mildly offended Dean would think he would do anything less that be a perfect gentleman. Claire explanation about the dinosaur was vague but Ben was rather too enamoured of the reality of Chomper to question it too deeply. It was also likely Claire didn't know why there were here. No one seemed to know why they were here after all.

Then Ben frowned in thoughtful concern. "What happens when he gets big? I've seen Jurassic Park, they'll eat ya." Even as he said this he stroked the baby dinosaur, scratched above its eye. "I don't think newspaper is gonna do it."

He looked up at both of them. "I don't have anything 'cept what I'm wearin'. He can't eat my stuff." He thought of his new DS and his catcher's mitt and his bike. Still, Dean and Claire had pretty cool stuff and there was a DINOSAUR to play with. Maybe he could do without his bike for a few weeks. Then Dean mentioned electrical cords... "How come he's not dead?" he asked, a little astonished.

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goallbuffyonus
2010-06-21 01:35 am UTC (link)

To be honest, Claire wasn't sure what they were going to do when Chomper was fully grown. She and Dean had never really discussed it. However, she was able to give Ben a smile and assure him, "He doesn't eat people." The raptor had certainly had plenty of chance to bite either her or Dean by now and hadn't. She was sure he wasn't going to start no matter what size he might grow to become.

She glanced briefly at Dean when Ben mentioned not having anything. Obviously they would have to fix that. Or, at least, Dean would. Claire thought about her shopping adventure at the grocery store and reminded herself that she was passing the clothing-and-other-items trip to him.

"Chomper's pretty tough," she answered about the electrical cords. "He got shocked a few good times though. I think he's pretty much learned his lesson with those, at least."

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