Claire sat down on the bed and smiled encouragingly. Gabriel put the condom in his trouser pocket and came to join her, visibly nervous and a little embarrassed. They started with a kiss, Gabriel holding Claire against him while they explored each other's mouths. It was a safe activity they had already mastered; after a moment, Gabriel relaxed enough to touch her chest again, fondling her breast through her shirt and underwear. Claire ran her hand up and down his back, uncertain which parts to touch on a man's body, aside from the obvious.

"Do you think I should undress?" she murmured against his mouth. "I mean do you want me--"

She stopped; it seemed dumb to ask him if he wanted her to undress. That was the whole point, after all. Claire unbuttoned her shirt. Gabriel said nothing, apparently paralysed by desire, his head still bowed against her face, his glasses pressing lightly on her temple. His breathing was irregular as he watched her remove her shirt and bra.

"Oh, Claire," he whispered.

Claire was glad they were so close and she didn't have to look at him looking at her. It wasn't that she didn't want Gabriel to see her, but it would have felt odd to be putting on a show. His proximity made her nakedness feel more intimate. Claire unbuttoned her jeans and pushed them down awkwardly, unwilling to break the spell by getting up. She hesitated when she reached her panties.

Claire had grown up in a hot climate, and most of her body had been bare on one occasion or another. This wasn't even the first time someone had seen her breasts. But even girlie sleepovers drew the line at revealing anything below the waistline. On the other hand, this was sex; she wanted to have sex with Gabriel and her panties were obviously in the way. She pulled her underwear down, scissoring her legs slightly to kick it off.

"God, you're beautiful," breathed Gabriel as she self-consciously bent over to peel off her socks.

"Thanks," she said, unsure exactly what people were supposed to say in this situation. "Um, do you want to touch me?"

Gabriel smiled at her, not shyly this time, but with amusement. "Yes. Yes, I think I probably do."

It wasn't exactly a great joke, but Claire laughed, the tension momentarily relieved. Gabriel took his glasses off, levitating them onto the bedside table. He kissed her again, harder than before, communicating more of the intensity of his desire for her. Claire moaned when he kissed her neck. Gabriel cupped her naked breast, squeezing it gently, and Claire lay down on her back, her head on the pillow.

Gabriel took a moment to look at her naked body before lying beside her, his upper body half on top of hers so they could kiss again. He stroked her hesitantly, his fingers mostly gentle, but sometimes unexpectedly rough when he didn't know how hard to touch.

It was exciting but just a little scary. Claire was acutely aware of the strength of his body compared to her, and conscious that some of Sylar's most formidable powers lay at his disposal. She trusted him completely, but she still remembered what he was capable of.

"We don't have to--" started Gabriel, no doubt sensing her sudden tension as he touched her too hard.

Claire smiled and took his hand, moving it more gently. Gabriel blushed, embarrassed by his lack of experience; Claire kissed him, her hand holding his, encouraging him to learn what she needed him to know, until she gripped his shirt and arched her back. Gabriel kissed her face gently, visibly affected by her reaction.

"Gosh," he murmured. "Claire, you're beautiful."

He pulled her closer against him, her hips against his belly, and kissed everything he could reach; her hair, her eyes, her face and neck. Still out of breath, Claire laughed, a bit embarrassed by the intimacy and unsure how to act. She kissed him back, her lips brushing against the wiry bush of his eyebrows. They shared a deep kiss that seemed to calm him down. Claire moaned slightly when he pulled away.

"Do you-- Should I undress too?" he asked.

"Yeah!" said Claire enthusiastically, though she didn't know how she would react to having a naked man so close to her. She'd seen enough men close to naked on the beach; she doubted that Gabriel's general anatomy would be anything surprising. But obviously, there were limits to her knowledge.

Gabriel stood on the floor to undress, coyly turning his back to her. He kept his navy blue underwear on until the last minute, sitting on the edge of the narrow bed and hunching over to inspect the condom packet out of Claire's sight.

"You say my power is understanding how things work, right?" he said with amusement, glancing over his shoulder.

"Yes. That should be a piece of cake."

Leaning up on one arm, Claire watched the lean muscles in his narrow pale back as he ripped the wrapping open.

"I think I'll read the instructions anyway," he murmured.

When he turned towards her, Claire didn't look down, instead locking her gaze on his. It seemed stupid for a nineteen-year-old who couldn't feel pain, but she was just a little scared. This was something new, that she had been raised to see as a special moment in her life. As if he too saw this occasion as something important, Gabriel kissed her with more hesitation now, touching her again but even less sure of himself.

"I-If you…" he started. "I don't want to, um--"

Claire firmly dismissed her own misgivings about the situation. "Gabriel, I love you. I want this." It occurred to her belatedly that he might also be scared; he'd been waiting even longer for this moment, after all. "But I mean we don't have to right now if you don't want to."

He grinned sheepishly. "I think we can safely say that I want to."

Claire giggled and Gabriel laughed too, pressing his forehead to hers. Claire twined her fingers into his short hair as they kissed again. It was awkward and funny and just perfect; as ordinary as could be, but the most extraordinary thing she had ever done.

Later, when Claire was leaning against his naked chest and Gabriel was playing with her hair, she reflected on the last four years of her life, trying to work out what would be different without Sylar. It was impossible to guess; her personal future was as unwritten as ever.

"Do you think the Company will ever leave us alone?" asked Gabriel. He had evidently been doing some thinking of his own.

Claire sighed. "I don't know. I guess if we keep a low profile, they'll leave us. Some people evaded them for years, like your father, I guess."

"I don't think I can keep a low profile," said Gabriel, his voice rumbling up through the hairy skin under her cheek. "I still want to help Chandra Suresh with his research and I guess I'd like to do something useful with all this power. You know, so I don't start using them just because I can."

He raised his hand, palm open, and Claire braced herself, expecting him to play with Elle's power. But he apparently remembered why she didn't like it and turned his hand over, making a couple of books float off the bookshelf and back again.

"We'll never have a normal life pretending to be something we're not," he said. "We have to get people to accept us as we are. Maybe we should cut out the chase and go straight to see the Company. Perhaps we can make a deal; they can study how I acquire abilities and in exchange, they help Dr Suresh and let us live in peace."

Claire raised her head and stared at him. "I don't think you'd like the Company's idea of studying you. But I guess there isn't anyone else we can trust."

"So the Company is our only choice," said Gabriel. "Since we don't trust them anyway, we might be able use them to buy ourselves some peace. Perhaps we can even get it to mend its evil ways." He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully, then kissed Claire on the forehead. "Don't worry, Claire. You know what the future might hold, and I understand how things work. We'll be fine."

* * * * *

FOUR YEARS LATER

"Claire, seriously, do you think you could possibly tell your boyfriend not to be such a drama queen?" whined Elle, kicking her shoes off in Claire's office as if she owned the place.

"He's my fiancé," corrected Claire, keeping her eyes on the screen.

"Yes, your fiancé," said Elle in a tone that meant 'whatever'. "I was totally in control, and bam, in comes Superman, the whole place shakes, the mark is spooked and surrenders, and I'm left looking like a pathetic sparkler. Anyway, what am I wearing on your big day?"

Claire frowned at her. "Anything you like. I told you, you're not a bridesmaid."

"So you're just having Daphne and that Laura girl from college and that's it?" said Elle, as if she really didn't believe it. "You've got to have at least three bridesmaids for a wedding."

"It isn't a big wedding." When Elle pouted, Claire added, "You can blow up stuff at the reception, though. We're having fireworks and someone has to set them off."

"But I'd look really good in a bridesmaid's dress, and if I catch the bouquet, you never know… Someone might catch a clue and I could become your auntie Elle!"

Claire rolled her eyes and decided not to voice her opinion that "someone" would have better sense than to marry Elle. In any case, they were interrupted when Gabriel burst into the room as if a major incident had occurred.

"Claire, I've found the ideal car!" He waved a photo at her. "There's a place upstate that has a 1922 cream-coloured Model T. It's perfect! The engine is in amazing condition."

Elle slipped her shoes back on and grinned at Claire. "Drama queen," she muttered as she left.

"It's lovely," Claire assured Gabriel.

Calmer now that he had her approval, Gabriel sat on her desk. Claire looked up at him and not for the first time, thought how good he looked in a suit. She hadn't appreciated it when Sylar was paired with Noah Bennet after he took her power. She wondered if things would have turned out differently if she had, though the Petrellis would still have been playing Sylar for a fool and the truth coming out would have had similar consequences. Thinking about Elle who had just left, she was once again pleased that that particular timeline was gone.

Gabriel cupped Claire's chin and leaned down to kiss her.

"What's wrong, Claire?" he asked. "You've been a bit strange today."

Claire half-shrugged; now that the latest crisis was over, there was no point denying it. "I'm fine. It's just that today is the day I went back in time."

"So from now on, it's the undiscovered country?" said Gabriel, with his usual knack of honing in on the essential detail of her statements.

"Yeah, there goes my job as a soothsayer," said Claire with a little sigh. "Not that everything I lived through the first time came true anyway."

Despite her foreknowledge of things like Arthur Petrelli's faked death or the plot to blow up New York, many things had turned out differently and not always for the best. The arrival in the United States of a naïve girl from the Dominican Republic who wiped out dozens of people, including several agents, before Gabriel and Claire were able to calm her down was an unpleasant surprise. The unexpected crises were contained, but Claire still felt guilty, aware that some were storms her crushed butterfly had created.

At least she and Gabriel were making a difference at the Company. Claire knew that Bob Bishop and Eric Thompson were afraid of Gabriel; they had both been on the receiving end of Sylar-like wrath in the beginning, and didn't dare cross him when it came to what Claire thought was right. With the revelation that she was Nathan Petrelli's daughter, Claire was practically the heir apparent; not everyone approved of or liked the situation, but they got on well with most of the agents, and Claire and Gabriel were able to steer the Company away from its worst excesses.

"It feels good, actually, to know I've completed the loop now," said Claire, standing up to wrap her arms around Gabriel. "I like not having the faintest idea what's going to happen or who our next enemy is likely to be. All I have to think about is our wedding."

"That's plenty to think about," said Gabriel with a chuckle. "I would never have proposed if I'd known how much work it would be. I don't think I can stand another man dropping hints that he wants to be my best man."

Claire laughed. "Elle wants to be a bridesmaid, but I really only want two and I get on better with Daphne. Haven't you chosen your best man yet?"

"It'll be Peter, I told you," said Gabriel, though he most certainly had not. Perhaps noticing the annoyed look on his fiancée's face, he add, "I suppose I should ask him first, though. Hey, maybe Cheerleader Claire would like to be a bridesmaid. That would be weird."

"Yes, it would."

'Cheerleader Claire', Claire's past self, was paradoxically not someone she got on with particularly well. With no Sylar to pursue her, and her father made aware of the dangers of concealing her ability and identity, Claire Bennet had grown into a young woman unburdened by the traumas that had shaped Claire's present personality. A quiet word with Bennet had even ensured that she didn't get assaulted by her classmate Brody. The Haitian stopped brainwiping her mother with none of the upset of the last timeline, and of course, her family was never murdered; Claire the cheerleader was able to complete high school and live a relatively normal life.

The resulting Claire Bennet was a shallow co-ed who lived a quiet romance with a Texan boy called Andy – someone Claire had never met in her timeline, but who had entered the cheerleader's life when the family stayed in Odessa for Claire's final year in high school. So no West, no Alex, no Gretchen; with no need to test her ability in secret, she never became friends with Zach. Instead, Cheerleader Claire formed a completely different set of relationships, enjoying the friendship of her best friend Jackie and living the life Claire had once wanted for herself.

Perhaps sensing that the mention of her alter ego had dampened her mood, Gabriel carefully brushed a strand of medium blonde hair behind her ear.

"Claire, do you ever regret going back in time?" he asked softly.

Looking up into his dark brown eyes, Claire licked her thumb and smoothed one of Gabriel's bushy eyebrows back into place.

"Never."