AMAZING! I honestly never understood why they split Gretchen they even broke up as friends in the show which for the record was dumb because those two truly deserved each other amazing I would have loved to see them get married though.

Oh this is DEEPLY good

Heh, I love that everyone already knew, especially with what Angela said. "Much as we loved to believe the screams from your bedroom came from nightmares..."

Also love Sylar's inscrutable smile whenever he see them together. They're totally his OTP.

Nice.

I really liked the fact that indestructible Claire was more worried about coming out to her family than fighting super powered psychos and jumping off ferris wheels in front of the world press.

But you know what my favorite little thing was? That while Gretchen was a little scared of Sylar (as she should be), she was actually more upset about the fact he stole her backpack than that he was a super powered serial killer.

Well done.

Claire and Gretchen are just adorable in this. I found it amusing that everybody took it all in stride. Angela's comment on the screaming at night and leaving them the whole wing of the mansion was brilliant. Great job.

I'd love to see this story as an episode screenplay, given the series'

mishandling of romantic relationships which often self-destruct or

disappear. Lovely, sensitive treatment of a 4th season subplot which

could've easily been a ratings gimmick, and cynically abandoned, with

Gretchen killed off, demonized, or permanently walking out on Claire-

and yet it wasn't.

I know zero about "coming out" anxieties, but your description of Claire's personal terror makes it feel real enough, making one want to reach out and comfort her, even though the moment of truth seems to be a non-event to her family and friends. (Might've been nice, though, to know the reactions of Sandra or Lyle, the Bennet household's collapse, notwithstanding; you did allude to "the others coming and going as they pleased"...for-among other things-"visits to loved ones.")

The POV of an outsider to the cast is something I would like to see onscreen. Her vibes from Angela are chilling; likewise those from Noah, and her wariness about him is realistic (despite his role in reuniting the lovers), especially after that disturbing flashback in "The Wall," where she's "threatened" with memory loss, minus cooperation in an as-yet-unexplained HRG plot. Out of curiosity, what's your take on that event?

No problem with her view of Peter, or, for that matter, Hiro or Ando. (Your description of Claire as Gretch's "knight in shining armor" almost had me expecting Hiro to compare them to Don Quixote and Dulcinea-remember his confused ramblings in the 4th season?)

Not sure, though, about Gretch's resignation to Sylar's presence, even if Peter can vouch for his reformed character; this is the same man whose coerced kissing of her girl is hardly his first "violation" of Claire, or even his worst (recall the horror of "The Second Coming"),

as well as his predatory sexual? fascination with her in the 3rd season finale.

Might Gretch not be even more fearful of him than we think?

Speaking of Sylar, though: His drawing of that parallel between the Claire/Gretchen outing and Claire's outing of Specials (as well as your

limited description of the world's reaction) reminds me of the HBO series True Blood, in which vampires have outed themselves to the world community, its reaction (as seen in a 1st season mockumentary) ranging from acceptance to bigotry and rioting, as well as political/religious activism (for and against them. The parallels drawn between vamp outing and gay/lesbian outings ("coming out of the coffin") make me wonder if that's the direction that a 5th season of Heroes would go. Did you have True Blood in mind when you had Sylar make that comparison?

Again, a fine, sensitive treatment of the couple (Angela's bluntness and Ando's crudeness, notwithstanding), and it makes me wonder why I don't see more Claire/Gretchen shippings.

Okay!

This was a really great story, and I absolutely am going to fave this and then rec it on my LiveJournal.

I do have a few constructive things to say, I hope you don't mind. Brush off the suggestions if you don't like them. :)

The beginning started off strong. You immediately hit me with "don't panic," and that drew me in. You get the set-up out of the way...but then the story slow down a bit. Something about their trek down the staircase, I feel like it could have been pared down a bit to still keep the flow of the story, and get the key points across (the bits of backstory).

I wasn't quite with it again until Gretchen saw the crew. Then suddenly, I was exclaiming "aww!" like nothing else. It started with Saint Peter, but what really, really got me was when Noah kissed Gretchen on the cheek like a second daughter.

I didn't quite see any character bashing - maybe get rid of the warning? Rabid, one-track fans are going to find it anyway, and by warning for it, I think you might be giving people a reason to look for it (though honestly, it the portraits were in character, so what would be the problem I don't know).

Anyway, back to the fic - it was peppered with bits of humour here and there, which was quite awesome. That, combined with a stylistic use of words and those adorable moments with the family, this was a great fic.

Great fic overall - thank you so much for sharing!

This was ADORABLE! I'm normally not huge for Claitchen (I ship Claire with Zach, actually), but this? was adorable! I love Gretchen's (shockingly accurate) POV on all the different characters we know so well. Saint Peter (she's not the only one calling him that behind his back!), Murdering Sociopath Guy, Scary-ass Angela, Ando and his porn collection, Bennet and the fact that he's scary as hell...

Well, it was all just generally amazing. And it made me think- was Claire's "coming out" in BNW an analogue and an analogy for coming out of the closet? I think so, and if *fingers crossed!* we get a fifth season, I want to see more of Gretchen and Claire, as friends or as more!

i read this first over on the livejournal group and i still think it's just as awesome now as i did then. i would love to see Gretchen sitting and arguing with Hiro and Ando! Angela struck me as slightly ooc, but then again i don't have the best grasp on her character. over all i love this little fic and really really wish it wasn't just a one-shot! kudos!