Title: Waiting Is The Hardest Part
Characters/Paring: Peter/Claire, mentions of Noah, Angela, and Nathan
Rating: G
Word Count: 483
Spoilers/Warnings: Missing scene from the season finale, so through 3.25.
Summary: He sounds so broken, so unlike the hero she knows he is.
Disclaimer: I'm sorry to disappoint you, but, alas, I do not own Heroes. That privilege belongs to Tim Kring and NBC.
A.N: I'm not sure where Noah sent Peter and Claire to keep them from discovering the truth, but according to heroeswiki he sent them on a search for Nathan, so I just went with that. Written for pairechallenge drabble #23, "Safe."

"Here."

Peter shoves the Styrofoam cup into Claire's hands almost forcibly, his gaze carefully controlled as her fingers wrap around it, brushing his subtly before he pulls back. He's been unusually quiet, she's noticed, since her dad and Angela sent them out on their search for Nathan, and she can't help but venture carefully, "Did you... find any sign of him?"

"No," he snaps out irritably, and Claire knows he doesn't mean to sound so callous but she still flinches at the tone of his voice. Peter's gaze softens instantly, and he sighs as he takes a few steps closer to her and opens his arms. She falls into the embrace easily, and his arms folding around her shoulders feels like the most natural thing in the world.

"I'm sorry, Claire," he murmurs, shaking his head with incredulity at himself. "I just... I need Nathan to be safe. If he's not..." He trails off for a moment before finishing, "If he's not I don't know what I'll do." He sounds so broken, so unlike the hero she knows he is.

"He's going to come back," Claire assures him, the cup of hot chocolate the only thing keeping her from pressing herself flush against him. "He's going to be fine. Your mom saw that he was going to be fine. He has to be." They both know she's trying to convince herself just as much as she's trying to convince him.

"I hope you're right," Peter tells her gently, breathing into her hair before pulling back, though he keeps his hands placed on her shoulders as he gazes down the length of the sidewalk.

"He will be fine," Claire repeats, a little more firmly, and as if on cue the familiar sound of her ringtone is piercing through the air. They both jump, and somehow Peter manages to get the phone out of her pocket before Claire even has the chance, fumbling with it before he slides it open, speaking breathlessly.

"Hello?" There's a pause as he listens to whoever is on the other side, and Claire waits with baited breath as Peter remains silent. Eventually he slides the phone closed, gaze unreadable for a few seconds longer before he lets out a short laugh of relief, followed by another and another until he scoops her up in his arms again, lifting her effortlessly into the air, hot chocolate falling forgotten to the ground. Claire doesn't need to hear the words from his mouth to know who was on the other line of that phone. She presses her face gratefully into the side of his neck, clinging to him as tears sting at her eyes, and she laughs with him.

"He's okay," Peter chuckles, dumbfounded. "He's okay."

"Told you." She smiles widely against the crook of his neck and shoulder, and Peter laughs again.

It's the most beautiful sound that Claire has ever heard.