InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "It's all about Teh Love"

adam monroe (lazarusrisen) wrote in colligo_threads,
@ 2009-06-18 11:43:00

Entry tags:

claire winchester

WHO: Adam Monroe & Claire Bennet
WHAT: Claire has a problem, and Adam offered to help her out.
WHERE: Claire's apartment
WHEN: After this
RATING: PG
STATUS: In Progress

So many familiar faces, some a little more so than others, and still, Adam didn't feel comfortable. He hadn't felt comfortable somewhere for quite some time, and he didn't expect to get comfortable anytime soon. And it didn't help that he was sharing his room with someone that would likely attempt to kill him on sight. Which was why heading to Claire's room first was perhaps more of a relief than it should have been. He had promised to help her, and while that promise might have seemed to the causal to be out of the goodness of his own heart, he knew all too well that providing her with what she needed would likely win him the type of defense against the Petrellis that would, hopefully, keep him from being attacked.

Maybe he could even convince her to come with him when he went to his room for the first time. Nathan wouldn't attack someone with his own daughter standing between them.

Knocking on the door when he reached it, Adam waited for a total for fifteen seconds before it dawned on him that that knock was pointless. This whole place was silent, and she wouldn't have any idea that he was at the door or not until he opened it. Reaching down and turning the door knob, Adam peeked his head into the room, looking around for some sign of the fellow blond.

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x_clairebear_x
2009-06-18 11:07 am UTC (link)

Claire knew that her family would probably think she was insane for inviting Adam to her room, and possibly for even agreeing to his help. She recognized the warnings that Angela had given her as well as the near-panic that Peter experienced at the mere idea of she and Adam talking. Claire wasn't stupid. She knew that her uncle and grandmother had their reasons for not trusting the man and she knew that they were pretty legitimate reasons from the sound of things. However, she also knew that if there was anyone in this entire place who might be able to help her, it was him. Not to mention he was the one person who knew all too well what she was facing at the thought of living forever. So while the logical side of her was telling her to heed her family's advice, the emotional side of her simply refused to listen.

She had to see this through. If she didn't, she'd spend the rest of her life wishing she had, and considering Claire was facing a literal eternity? The rest of her life was going to take a very long time.

Pacing back and forth in the small foyer in front of the door with her whiteboard tucked securely under her arm, the blond waited as patiently as she could for him to arrive. She'd made sure the door was unlocked since she wouldn't hear him knock, and had her PDA in her pocket in case he opted to contact her that way rather than simply come inside. As she waited, she tried to keep her hopes from getting too high. There was a good chance, she knew, that even his blood wouldn't heal whatever was wrong with her. Yet try as she might, there was a bundle of excitement mixed with hope that had settled in her stomach since his offer to help, and Claire doubted it would go away until she either felt pain again or that bundle became a crashing wave of disappointment.

As long as she didn't cry if the latter came true, she thought she'd be okay.

Seeing the door open in her peripheral vision, she turned toward it and smiled at the man as his gaze landed on her. Giving him a wave, she motioned for him to step inside and then for him to follow her into the apartment. Her roommate was nowhere to be seen, but Claire didn't want to take any chances that she'd walk in on something like this, so she led him to her bedroom. She wrote a message as she walked and, once they were in her room, she turned and held up the whiteboard so he could see what she'd written.

Thanks again, for offering to do this. I figured my room would be better than trying to explain everything to my roommate if she shows up. She still thinks I'm just a regular girl from sunny California.

How Claire had managed to keep from injuring herself in front of Usagi was anyone's guess, but she'd managed it thus far and fully intended on keeping it that way.

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lazarusrisen
2009-06-18 11:33 am UTC (link)

Well, that was one way to communicate, at least. Offering her a wider smile than he had when she'd waved him inside, Adam nodded to her statement. He understood. The reactions that a person had to something like this varied rather severely, and it was impossible to tell whether someone would be impressed, horrified, or indifferent. Sometimes it was just better not to risk it. Looking over the room, Adam spotted what they needed and crossed over to the dresser, picking up one of the needles and pulling the plastic off of it.

This was something that he had done hundreds of times before. It had been easier once blood transfusions and needles had become more common place. Just injecting someone was a lot simpler than cutting someone's arm and having to slash himself deep enough that he could bleed properly into the wound. He moved with the expertize of someone who had used a needle many times before, and once he'd filled the syringe, Adam turned, looking up at Claire and waiting for her approval.

This really would only take a few seconds to do, a few more to figure out whether it worked or not. That was, if things went smoothly. He hoped things went smoothly.

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x_clairebear_x
2009-06-18 11:44 am UTC (link)

It was odd, Claire had realized a while ago, losing her ability to feel pain. Some part of her still expected things to hurt when she knew they wouldn't. Like now, for instance. She had watched him fill the syringe and had been trying to prepare herself for the prick of the needle, even though she knew she wouldn't feel it the same way that others did or she once had.

When he looked back to her, she swallowed hard and met his gaze. In a few moments she'd know if it worked and realized she hadn't hoped for something as much as she was hoping right now that it did work. Because while it might leave her indebted to someone that the bulk of her family seemed to dislike, it would also give her back that piece of herself that had been stolen from her. Of course, if it didn't work, she was possibly going to be even more upset than she'd been the first time she'd realized she couldn't feel pain. But that was a risk she was willing to take.

With a breath to try to calm her rapidly beating heart, she nodded her consent and was vaguely surprised to realize that she was still smiling despite her fear that this was all somehow going to blow up in her face.

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lazarusrisen
2009-06-18 11:56 am UTC (link)

Adam smiled, an attempt to be reassuring, as he reached out and took her arm, gently turning it over so that he could see her veins. He normally wouldn't be this careful. He didn't have to be usually, after all. But he wanted to make sure that this got to all of the right places. Taking his time and as much care as he could not to slip or rip the vein even though he knew that it would just repair itself, Adam injected his blood into her blood stream. He made sure to get every drop out of the needle before pulling it back out and capping it, taking a step back and looking at her with a soft curiosity before picking up the pen for the whiteboard.

It should kick in a few minutes if it's going to do anything. Of course, you're going to have to hurt yourself to see if it has.

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x_clairebear_x
2009-06-18 12:29 pm UTC (link)

She'd all but held her breath as he'd slid the needle into her arm. She'd felt the pressure of the blood as it had slid into her vein and began to integrate with her own. As usual there was no pain associated with any of it, although Claire admitted that she'd always had a fairly high tolerance for pain and shots had never hurt her near as much as she'd pretended they had when she was younger.

When it was over, her green eyes flickered up to the whiteboard and she nodded her head in understanding. She'd already thought of that and had decided, after much deliberation, what would be the easiest way to see if she hurt. While jumping out windows tended to be her calling card as of late, that way would end in a possible death and there would be no pain to associate with it, so she'd quickly ruled that out. Anything too minor, too, might be overlooked. Finally she'd settled on a simple stabbing, in the gut, as those types of injuries tended to have a signature pain unlike other types that she'd received since her ability had made itself known.

After a few minutes had passed, she moved to her nightstand and picked up the butcher knife that she'd taken from the kitchen. Never let it be said that Claire Bennet did anything halfway, she thought to herself as she moved back to the center of the room. No way did she want to get blood all over her comforter. At least here, if it stained, she could put down a throw rug.

Meeting Adam's gaze, she gave him a hopeful smile. Then she exhaled slowly and, holding the knife tightly in her grip, jabbed it into her stomach.

The sensation of the blade sliding into her soft flesh was one that Claire would never forget. Each and every time she'd ever been cut she remembered it all too well. Yet this time, much like the slice to her skull caused by Sylar, was special. Different. Whereas the other one was the last time she'd felt pain, this one was the time when she felt it again.

Sucking a breath, Claire would have cried out at the wave of agony that washed over her from the severed nerve endings. With a tug she yanked the knife free and stumbled back, eyes wide in disbelief and shining with pain. She managed to land on her bed and dug blood-covered fingers into the very bedspread she'd been determined not to stain. And there she sat, reminding herself to breath and blinking back tears, for the few seconds it took for the wound to re-heal itself and for the pain to dissipate as quickly as it had appeared.

Once it was all said and done, Claire raised her gaze back to Adam and smiled brilliantly. Then she was on her feet, across the room, and throwing her arms around him in a hug born from pure gratitude.

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lazarusrisen
2009-06-18 12:50 pm UTC (link)

Adam knew, the second the blade had touched her skin and there was a reaction, that it had worked. He didn't know why he was relieved, even happy, that it had, but as he watched her stumble about until she was able to get a hold of herself as the wound healed, Adam realized that he didn't really care why he felt like that. A positive reaction was better than a negative one, and he certainly wasn't about to complain about the hug that came right along with it.

He would have been laughing if he could make a sound, hugging her back before stepping back and offering her a wide smile. She really was a good kid. And if anyone deserved good things to happen to them, it was good people. And with the double burden of less than stellar examples that she had resting on her shoulders, it almost amazed Adam how well she had turned out.

Of course, Peter had amazed him as well. If he hadn't known what Angela was like when she was younger, Adam would have sworn that Peter had been spontaneous generated and raised in some sort of protective pod in order to keep his parents from influencing him. As it was, he figured that Angela had stopped being a manipulative, lying bitch long enough to keep from passing it on to one son.

How Claire had managed to avoid getting Bennet's psychosis, he'd probably never know.

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x_clairebear_x
2009-06-18 07:16 pm UTC (link)

To say that Claire was excited would have been the understatement of quite possible the century. She was ecstatic. She knew, of course, that being able to feel pain again wasn't necessarily going to be a good thing in the long run, but being put back in touch with that part of her humanity that she felt she'd lost more than made up for any issues that might arise in the future.

Pulling away from him, she was smiling brilliantly as she happily danced in a small circle. It was while mid-turn that she managed to get a glimpse of herself and realized that she, once again, resembled a victim from a horror movie. Flushing a bit, she held up a blood-covered finger to indicate he should wait a minute and, grabbing a shirt from one of her drawers, dashed into the bathroom connected to her room.

A quick wash of her hands, arms, and stomach in the sink, and a change from the now ruined tshirt into a simple black tank top later, and Claire emerged looking as though she'd never suffered so much as a scratch. Picking up the whiteboard and pen, she wrote out a rather large sized, THANK YOU!!!

Then, pausing in thought for a minute, she wrote beneath it in her regular handwriting, And if there's anything you need, just name it. I seriously owe you one.

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lazarusrisen
2009-06-22 10:26 pm UTC (link)

Anything? Well, that was a rather generous offer, and one that most people tended to make without truly understanding exactly what anything usually entailed. But he had no intentions of exploiting this. No, there were a few places that he did have a moral line to draw. Besides, he would have be far, far better off with her on his side anyway. There was one thing that he might be able to use her assistance for, though, and it would pay off grandly in more ways than just the one.

Stepping forward, Adam held out his hand for the pen before scrawling underneath Claire's handwriting in his own painfully neat script, Walk me back to my room? I'd prefer Nathan to have a reason not to take my head off on sight.

He certainly wouldn't be able to if his own daughter was escorting Adam back.

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x_clairebear_x
2009-06-23 12:49 am UTC (link)

Claire obviously hadn't really thought through the offer of 'anything he needed'. If she had, she likely wouldn't have worded it quite that way. As it was, though, she was simply too happy at finally feeling normal again that the thought of Adam taking it the wrong way - or making some unwanted advance because of it - never even crossed her mind. Fortunately Adam didn't go that route and instead asked her something that, while a bit surprising, didn't set her on edge as much as improper innuendo definitely would have done.

With a smile, she simply gave a nod of her head rather than bothering to write out the answer. Of course she'd walk him back to his room. It would just be rude to make him have to go deal with Nathan on his own after he'd helped her. Although some tiny part of Claire pointed out that, if Nathan really disliked Adam that much, even her being there might not stop him from doing something.

Claire quickly dismissed that thought, however. Nathan would listen to her. He had to. And, if he didn't - since, truth be told, there were many times when he hadn't before - well, then she'd simply make it so he had to get through her to get to Adam. No matter what else she might be able to say about her biological father, she knew with absolute certainty that he'd never intentionally hurt her, so she figured that would do the trick if nothing else would.

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lazarusrisen
2009-06-23 01:01 am UTC (link)

Adam had his limits and hitting on the granddaughter of one of his former best friends crossed those limits rather solidly. Not that she wasn't attractive in her own right, but he had far more options that wouldn't get him maimed in a dozen different ways by the male members of the Petrelli clan and Bennet. Right now, he was more than willing to accept her company as simply company. And maybe a pretty face to soothe the savage beasts.

And by that, he meant Nathan.

Reaching out for the whiteboard, Adam wiped away their last two messages with his sleeve before offering her a thankful smile, I really don't want to see what he'd do if I went there alone. I can't die, but people have ways of making me wish I was dead.

Like Hiro. And he was sure that Nathan would come up with a just a creative way to make me suffer.

I'm not really fond of heights.

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x_clairebear_x
2009-06-24 01:05 am UTC (link)

Claire nodded and took the whiteboard, erasing his message and writing her own reply. Well, Nathan can definitely be a hardheaded jerk at times, but I'm pretty sure he won't attack you with me standing there.

Pausing, re-reading what she wrote, she frowned ever so slightly before writing beneath it, And if he tries, I can at least serve as a distraction long enough for you to get away? Because a Plan B never hurt, she figured, and there was no shame in opting not to pick a particular battle at a particular point in time.

After a second, she wrote out another message before handing the board back to him. Just let me get my shoes on and I'm ready to go.

And once the board was back in his hands, she moved to her closet to do just that.

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