Title: A Call to Run
Fan dom: Heroes
Rating: T : Includes Mention of Alcohol and Teen Angst
Characters: Nathan, Claire, Noah, West
Notes and Spoilers: Spoilers through Volume 2: Chapter 3: Kindred
"Dad?"
Nathan paused. He put his drink down on the counter and blinked. Did he hear what he thought he heard?
"Yeah?" he said into the phone.
"Well, at least you didn't tell me to hang up the phone this time," Claire replied. "Can I talk to you?" It wasn't the first time she tried to run to one father to run from the other. It wasn't fair, she knew this, but she had to say something.
"Yeah of course you can," Nathan replied. "What's up?"
"Remember what I said before?"
Nathan closed his eyes tightly. As much as he was happy to hear Claire's voice, as much as he was feeling secret joy for his first born calling him "Dad", he really didn't want to think about what they talked about before. It hurt too much.
"Yeah."
"About hiding who we are."
Oh. It wasn't what he thought. "What happened?" he asked. "Is everything all right? Are you okay?"
Claire sighed.
"Not really. Have you ever felt like the life you are living is not your own?"
Nathan rolled his eyes. "Sure who hasn't."
"Or someone you knew wasn't who he was?"
"What happened?"
"I found out something about my father. My other father...I mean."
Nathan bit his tongue. So many things he was tempted to say. Things that bred from his envy, but he didn't dare.
"Everyone is entitled to their secrets Claire," Nathan said gently.
"What if I told you he did something really bad?"
Nathan held his breath for a moment. "What did he do?"
"Kidnap people. People like me. People like us. The man in the horn-rimmed glasses."
Nathan stared out in space.
"What did you say?" he asked.
Claire bowed her head, if she wasn't so angry and disgusted she would be ashamed.
She shook her head to shake her remaining inhibitions away. She bent her knees and brought them close to her body.
"Am I ever going to feel safe?" she asked.
Nathan closed his eyes.
Each time he closed his eye lids. Each and every time, he relived the event that happened four months ago. Where was his brother? Why did he survive and Peter did not? Perhaps he landed somewhere else, but that was four months ago.
"I am sure your family will keep you safe," Nathan said.
Claire wanted to cry. "But how? Did you hear me Nathan?"
Back to Nathan...
"He kidnaped people!"
"I know."
Nathan sighed. He shouldn't have said it. He knew he shouldn't have. He tried his best not to. But with the scotch burning his tongue, and Claire's desperate cries he failed.
"You know?" Claire asked.
"Never mind what I said, it's the booze."
"Tell me now! Please! I need one father that doesn't lie to me!" she shouted.
Nathan took a sip of his scotch.
"I can't promise that I won't lie to you Claire. My wife left me. She took my sons away. And here I am pushing you away. I blamed my mother for keeping me from you. From almost letting me let Peter... But what did it give me? I'm all alone."
"You're not alone. Can you understand that?"
"What do you want me to do? Hurt you too?"
Tears were coming down Claire's face.
"Please", she wanted to whisper, but the words didn't come out. "Please. Stop blaming yourself for this. If you allowed Peter to blow up the city, he surely would have been dead."
But she didn't; she didn't dare. It wasn't something he needed to hear. He needed Peter here.
"Dad..." she pressed. "Please tell me. Did my other dad, hurt you?"
"No," he only partly lied. Even though he did kidnap him, if he in fact was the same man in horn-rimmed glasses that took him from the hotel, he scared him, but didn't physically hurt him.
"Then why would West say that then?" Claire whispered.
"West?"
Claire didn't say anything.
"Claire?" Nathan said again.
"I shouldn't have said anything."
"But you did."
"I don't know who he is to me. A friend, a potential boyfriend, or some weirdo on the street, but he told me that the man in the horn-rimmed glasses kidnaped him as a child. I know about the Company my father used to work for. The one I thought you worked for too when Peter and I saw you talk to that man."
"Thompson?" Nathan whispered.
He hoped all the music in the background drowned out the cell phone call.
"Yeah."
"You said you know why I do it. I do miss him Claire. I more than miss him."
A tear went down his cheek and in response he shattered the glass in his hand.
"Okay sir, I think you are done," the bartender told him.
Nathan stared at his hand, pieces of glass were still embedded in his hand.
"I have to go. I will call you back."
Claire blinked in surprise.
"You will?"
"Yeah."
"Are you-?" Claire started to ask but the cell phone dropped.
She hoped he was okay. She needed to talk to someone about this. And with Peter gone, she was sure, he would be the only one that could understand.
She lied back on her bed and stared at the ceiling for a few moments and closed her eyes.
The End
Author's Note: Story includes reference to Volume 1: Chapter 15: Run!