WHO: Claire Bennet (future), Heidi Petrelli WHERE: LAX WHEN: Thursday, September 1/Friday, September 2; evening/early morning WHAT: Leaving on a jet plane? Or trying, at least. RATING: TBD STATUS: thread; in-progress
I'm done.
So was Claire. What she was done with remained to be seen, but a quick text to Sarah and she was out of the hotel to track down a cab. Where she was going, she didn't know, just as long as it was away. The problem with calling a cab was that she needed a destination to give to the driver, so she gave him the first thing that popped into her mind. "LAX."
Part of her realized she wasn't being fair, but a far greater part was upset and hurting, not just from the resulting mental conversation after Peter yelled at her, but everything that had happened recently, from frustration with a freedom that still had restraining edges lurking that tripped her up to a deal she'd desperately wanted and yet could never make. She'd been given the chance to save her dad's life, but the cost had been too high, a price she wasn't willing to see others pay just for her happiness, so she had decided against it. The man with the offered deal had responded to her post with something that had torn right into her heart, but that didn't matter in the big picture. As far as she was concerned, the topic was closed, the deal passed by.
As happy as she often appeared, since learning of Noah's death, there had been an unhappiness inside she couldn't shake, one she tried hard to conceal but had prodded at her more and more of late, especially with the loss of hope that came with choosing not to make a deal. Knowing that her attempt to try and help others by attracting Sam's attention to herself was something that once again hurt Peter, that unhappiness had grown, especially with how he'd shut her out so sharply. She couldn't stand the thought he was angry at her, but at the same time, didn't want to push it.
She was still lost in her thoughts when the cab reached the airport, getting out, paying the cabbie and moving inside the main entrance to the airport with little thought. There weren't many places to go now beyond that point – unlike her youth, when someone could run around the airport and watch the planes take off, now everything was fenced in by security – so she focused on the huge boards of flights as she walked from airline board to airline board, reading without finding anything appealing.
And then she saw it.
Los Angeles International Airport to Midland Odessa Regional Apt, TX, USA
Odessa. Home. Dad.
The house she'd grown up in had been left behind five years ago out of necessity, then one by one the members of her family, all lost to the world under Sylar's influence – but here in the past, those things all still existed.
She was suddenly gripped by a wave of homesickness that left her feeling sick inside, because she knew even if she went, it wouldn't entirely be home. It would be her past, what home had once been, but it wouldn't be hers, a place she could stay.
Despite that, it didn't matter. She'd wanted to go there before, to try and find some kind of closure, and she'd wanted Peter to go with her, but now – now, she'd go alone. Just to watch, maybe to sneak those few photos she planned – and perhaps more. She hadn't aged in five years, maybe if she dyed her hair blonde after she arrived, she could pass for herself briefly enough to touch him. If she thought hard enough, she'd be able to figure out where her fifteen year old self was and find a way to get this small piece of what she wanted.
One $695 charge to the credit card Nathan had given her shortly after her arrival and a brief run through security (as she had no carry-on, that took less time), and Claire found herself on the other side of the security barrier where the shops and boarding areas were. Another charge to the card and she had a book to read, or just stare at, and coffee and a box of donuts.
Choosing a boarding area with no occupants, Claire sat down in a chair, drawing her legs up and resting the book on her knees with her phone beside her to do the mandatory check-ins so she didn't set the alert in the system off. The plane wasn't due to leave until tomorrow afternoon but she had no reason to leave the airport until then.