Title: Present Day
Author: sorion
Fandom: Heroes
Pairing: Sylar/Claire
Rating: PG
Word count: ~3,600
Summary: Trust, courage, love. But for the vision of a brave future it takes one more thing.

AN: Part of the Brave universe.
Brave | Brave New World | Growing Strong | Settling In | Courage | Passion | Bonds | Present Day | COMPLETED

Present Day

Noah Bennet still sat on the very same barstool he had taken residence on hours back. In front of him were no more empty Whiskey glasses, but only a half-empty ice tea (of which he and Claire had emptied two jugs during the course of the afternoon).

He stared into the coral red liquid. He knew it was coral red, from when… Gabriel had popped into the kitchen to make a second jug, just when they were about to finish the first one, and Claire had reacted to the tea grinning and calling it that colour, making Gabriel chuckle. (Noah had been told by Claire that the tea before was much more like goldenrod.)
Noah imagined that they would have to be very fine tuned to different shades of colours, nowadays.

Other than in that instance, they hadn't seen hide nor hair from either Gabriel or Peter, who were sitting in the garden behind the house, only their pleasant voices drifting inside every now and then, accompanied by shared laughter.

Noah sighed. Claire had been right, he had never before actually listened, and now he wasn't at all sure if he was glad or not that he had this time. During the past hours, it had become harder almost by the minute to cling to his previously unwavering opinion of Gabriel Gray. And as Gabriel had told him earlier, his emotional investment made sure that his own guilt rose exponentially in return.

No matter how he turned and twisted it, had he not blindly followed orders, he could have prevented Sylar from coming into existence.
For a few moments he had almost convinced himself that the company man, mister bag-and-tag, was in the past. Until he remembered why he was here talking to Claire in the first place. No, the company man was still there, even if he didn't work for the current version of it, and he would stay there unless Noah would finally allow himself to let go of him.

Claire was still oblivious to his musings, to how close he was to admitting that he was not the better man, after all, that he had done things as horrible as Sylar had. She was talking animatedly about shared, happy memories, currently explaining their plans for the "birthday party" Molly had insisted on.

Noah cleared his throat. "So, uh, when's the big day, then?" he asked, trying to get back into the conversation.

Claire blinked at him. "The adoption is on Thursday, the party on Saturday." She smiled a bit until she now noticed too that her father's thoughts were miles away (or perhaps years gone). "Dad?"

Noah couldn't look her in the eyes. He gripped his glass tightly and took a shuddering breath. "It's my fault, isn't it?"

Claire remained silent for a long, painful moment. She had expected that part in her father to break free eventually. He wasn't stupid, after all; he was just… wilfully blind if he wanted to. And for very good reasons.

"I'm not going to lie to you and say you had no part in it, because you did," she finally said and sighed. "But you were part of a machinery, and Gabriel knows that." She smiled ruefully. "He also carries enough guilt around to never blame anyone else for what they did." Her eyes flickered to Noah's. "Just don't lie to yourself by telling everyone that you were the good guy and only protected your family. That's the one thing he won't stand for."

Noah's eyes watered. "I did try to protect you," he said, his voice low, nearly breaking.

"I believe you," Claire answered honestly, taking one of his hands. "But, dad, sometimes, the price of being protected isn't worth paying. Not for me." She bit her lips. "Like Stephen Canfield? I don't want you to do things like that in my name. I don't want that on my conscience."

He stared at her in recognition. "No, Claire. That's not… No. Don't do that. Don't blame yourself for what I did."

"Look, rationally, I know it's stupid. I could never stop you from doing things. Emotionally…"

"No," Noah interrupted and pointed towards the back door. "I'm getting the guys in here to back me up on that one if I have to, but stop it."

She snorted in amusement at her father getting Gabriel as a back-up for anything. "Please," she waved him off. "I've heard it all before, there's no need." She grinned, but that quickly faded. "But I want you to know that it did take quite some talks to get that idea out of my head."

Noah breathed a sigh that turned into a groan. So now he actually needed Gabriel (and probably Peter) to undo the damage he had done on his own daughter he was trying to protect? Marvellous. Just… marvellous.
When he looked up, his eyes went behind Claire and to the pictures on the fridge. Pictures he had tried his damndest to ignore before. Now that he let himself look at them he… wasn't so sure if the man he had hunted for years was even on them. He wasn't sure, but neither was he convinced of the contrary. Leaps of faith were, and never had been, his forte.

When his eyes fell on the picture that Peter had taken of a sleeping trio on their swimming day out, his lips formed a smile involuntarily.

Claire didn't have to follow his line of sight to know what he was looking at (if not the exact picture) and just smiled at him.

"Did you ever see it?" she finally asked.

He blinked and returned his attention to her. "See what?"

She half-shrugged. "Gabriel under your assignment."

Noah shook his head. "Never let myself." He considered that. "In retrospect… maybe. I don't know."

Claire looked at him, curiously. "What was he like? When you first met him?"

Noah cleared his throat and shifted in his seat. "I didn't… meet him, per se." He squinted at her, knowing damn well that she had ample reasons to not react well to any mentions of surveillance cameras.

Claire rolled her eyes. "I know. But you saw him, right?"

Noah tried to recall the image of a timid, introverted, confused young man. A man who would have killed himself after his first victim, because he couldn't live with the guilt.

"He was… shy." That was the first word that came to his mind. "Scared, lonely. Desperate for contact. Terribly confused." He swallowed. "Betrayed," he added the last word with a breaking voice, because he had to.

Claire couldn't answer that, so Noah continued.

"Elle didn't want to go through with it, you know," he added.

This made Claire look up. That was news to her… and, so she assumed, it would have been to Gabriel as well.

"She said that the suicide attempt had been a cry for help, and that we should give him that." He looked straight at Claire. "I guess she was right."
He had to take off his glasses to rub his eyes; they were dry, but stung something fierce. "But that wasn't my job."

"Company man."

Noah nodded. "I guess once he knew we betrayed him, all bets were off, and Sylar had no more reasons to stop searching for power." He put his glasses back on. "And then he went after you…"

"And it got personal."

Noah nodded, once more and huffed. "I don't think I could by any stretch of the imagination claim that I was rational when it came to him, after that," he admitted, ruefully. It wasn't like that was surprising to him, he had just never felt like he was in the wrong with it.

Claire grinned, lopsidedly. "Yeah. Me neither." She thought back and slowly shook her head. "I was so mad at him after he got to me, a lot more than I was scared." Suddenly, she snickered. "Well, except for when he wanted me to help him figure out what was wrong with him. I mean, I was angry at him, but that was just weird."

Noah huffed. "You were also pretty mad when I showed up with him as my partner…" he noted.

Claire pondered that for a second, then smirked directly at him. "Payback."

It took Noah a moment to realise what she meant by that. "That is not the same thing."

Claire snorted. "I would hope not." She tilted her head. "How was he at that time? As your partner? He didn't seem to me like you described him back from your first encounter…" Shy was not something Sylar ever appeared to be, no matter what he did.

"Not really, no," Noah agreed. "Still confused and… lost, I guess. Very much seeking for approval." He smirked. "But he would have made a good agent," he admitted. "I think he liked that."

Claire nodded, grinning. "He did. He said you were fun to work with when you weren't trying to kill him."

Noah huffed. "Which I was trying to do from the beginning." His thoughts went some time ahead, to the eclipse, to the day Claire had died… "It was his urge to belong that made it so easy to manipulate him," he said, his voice sounding far off. "When I told him that the Petrellis weren't his parents, I knew I was planting a seed. I knew that he would crash from it." He stared at his hands. "And from the looks of it, when Elle's body was found the next day… I guess he…" He breathed.

"I pretty much lost it," Gabriel said from behind them. When both Claire and Noah turned to look at him, he averted his eyes. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop, I only just came in."

"It's okay," Claire assured him, looking at him with pain filled eyes, holding out a hand to take his. He took her hand and she interlaced their fingers.

The pain wasn't only in Claire and Gabriel's eyes. It was in Noah's, as well. Pain from knowing that these two had to heal wounds in the other that he had caused. Pain from knowing that he had taken a confused man and turned him into a killing machine. Pain from knowing that he took the weaknesses of an unstable woman who had been used and manipulated all her life, used them against her, and as a result had her killed.

And when he saw Claire and Gabriel timidly smile at each other, he just didn't have it in him to continue condemning the man. He didn't trust Gabriel, but if he was entirely honest with himself, Noah himself wasn't really to be trusted, either, was he? He had just proven that when deceiving his daughter. Gabriel on his part hadn't done anything causing alarm, not for a long time…

No. No matter who had done what, Noah had done his fare share, and it was up to him to answer for it, now.
When Gabriel raised his head to look at Noah and say something, Noah didn't let him.

"I'm so sorry," Noah said, meaning every syllable, knowing it wouldn't change a thing.

Claire almost gasped.

Gabriel just returned Noah's agonised gaze with one just as tortured, but unflinching. "So am I," he finally said, his voice a little more than a whisper.

Noah didn't want to know just how often Gabriel had tried to utter those words, saying them with as much feel as he did, maybe, feeling helpless because they were only words, words that could be rejected as fast as they had been said.
"It's never quite enough, is it?" he asked, the realisation startling, not accusing.

Gabriel shook his head, slowly. "No." He smiled, slightly. "You just have to keep going."

For a long, loaded moment, nobody said a word.

The Gabriel cleared his throat. "But that's not why I came inside," he said, changing the topic. "It's getting late, almost dinner time." He smiled at Claire. "What would be your opinion on an impromptu barbecue?"

Claire groaned in relief. "Oh, yes, please. I'm starving."

Gabriel's smile widened. "Peter's heating up the grill, so I'm gonna work my magic in here." He pecked her on the lips and opened the fridge. "So if you want to continue your talk, you might want to take it outside," he said absently, and then suddenly peeked around the fridge door, looking at Noah. "You're staying for dinner, right?"

Noah stared at him. That was it? Just like that?

"Sure he is," Claire said. "I'm not done with him yet."

Gabriel chuckled into the fridge then came back out, frowning and holding a nearly empty glass of mayonnaise.

Claire snorted. "I'm shocked. Really, I am," she said, deadpan.

Gabriel took a step out of the kitchen and yelled outside. "Peter! You're a mess!"

Peter poked his head in. "What'd I do now?"

Gabriel showed him the glass.

Peter pulled a face and ducked back outside. "Oops."

Claire and Gabriel laughed, while Noah watched the interaction like a tennis match, feeling horribly out of place. The three of them had created a home here that he was not a part of, and right now it didn't feel like he ever would be.

Claire slapped her thighs and hopped off the barstool. "I'll get one," she declared. "You just," she wiggled her fingers at Gabriel, "work your magic." Then she looked at her father. "The store's just down the street. I'll be back in ten. No trying to kill each other while I'm gone."

Gabriel went back to taking salads and various other items out of the fridge and onto the counter while Noah watched him for a while. When Gabriel started washing the green leaves, Noah cleared his throat.

"Something I can do?" he asked, not really knowing why. He supposed he was trying to give himself a break, some time to breathe the information he had gotten in and out of his system to make it get used to it. Years of conditioning or not, he had no choice but to acclimatise if he didn't want to lose Claire – or any human contact, really, since all the accusations today hadn't been wrong… he did close himself off.

Gabriel turned enough to look over his shoulder, as startled as Noah felt. "Uh…" Then his eyes fell on the fruit bowl. "You could… make a fruit salad for later? We don't have any dessert yet."

Noah slid off his seat and to the spot next to Gabriel, suddenly feeling every year of his age. "So, I just…"

Gabriel smirked at him. "Wash, cut, put in bowl," he said, levitating a knife, a chopping board and a bowl out of their respective drawers and cupboards, since his hands were busy.

.
Noah worked silently for long minutes, wondering if he would ever be able to see the future Claire had spoken about the day of the carnival...

What was it that people did in socially uncomfortable (to put it mildly) situations? Oh, right. Smalltalk.

"So. College, huh?" Noah said into the silence.

Gabriel started mixing a marinade. "Yep."

Noah nodded. "And thanks for… talking Claire into going back, too."

Gabriel tilted his head and looked at Noah. "I didn't. I just said that I wanted to go, and she needed a reason, a purpose." He smiled a bit. "She found one, and that isn't me." The smile turned into another smirk. "Though that probably didn't hurt."

Noah shifted uncomfortably. "She never did tell me why she wanted to go into psychology…" Not that he was surprised. Whenever they had been talking in the last year, it was because he wanted to remind her to keep the hell away from Sylar and even Peter if necessary.

"She wants to help Specials. You know, to deal with abilities, council their families, help them cope. That kind of thing. Maybe teach, too."

"That's quite a goal," Noah said, nodding impressed.

"It is," Gabriel agreed. "It's also imperative."

Noah sighed; his jaw tightened. "Yeah," he grudgingly forced out. He should have known how important counselling Specials was. He had known. He just… didn't want to deal, he wanted to solve. Bag, tag, forget. It was so much easier, more clear-cut. Final.

He shook himself out of his reveries. "What about you then? Any preference for a field?"

"Some psychology, too, probably, but mostly medicine."

Noah stopped his chopping and stared at him. The image of the other man with a scalpel was not in the very least appealing… "Medicine?"

Gabriel's hand stilled, too, his expression guarded. He nodded towards the fridge, or more precisely, the pictures on it. "You know about Lucia Morgan?"

Noah followed his line of sight. "The girl with the brain aneurism?"

Gabriel smiled, ruefully. He wasn't surprised that Noah knew all about that. He had probably investigated himself, on top of having been told about it.

"I could… help more," Gabriel explained. "But to be quite honest, it scares the shit out of me." He worked furiously on his marinade, again.

"So you thought, if you learn all there is to know about it, you'll be able to do it, again."

Gabriel half shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe not. I don't know. Worth a try, I guess." He took a shuddering breath. "Or I end up doing something else entirely, who knows." A tentative smile returned. "I'm just going to pick the courses that look interesting. I'm not going for a degree, I'm going to learn."

Noah considered that. "It's not like you have to do it yourself. You could advise others."

Gabriel grinned, catching the undertone in Noah's voice quite clearly. "Thinking about yourself?"

Noah grinned at his fruit, refusing to direct it at Gabriel. "Maybe."

Gabriel continued preparing some potatoes, leaving it at that. But he felt pretty satisfied with how things were going. He had expected it to be a lot worse when Noah had first showed up on his doorstep that same morning.

After a long moment, Noah put down his knife and sighed, then looked directly at Gabriel. "I really hope she's not wrong about you," he said, and Gabriel knew that it was the truth.

Gabriel returned the look, gratefully, then waved him off, breaking the tension. "Naw. She hates being wrong." He smirked. "I'd never hear the end of it." He tilted his head, pondering that. "Literally."

Noah couldn't help it; he chuckled at that.

"Wow. The not killing each other worked better than I expected…" Claire said behind them, smiling benignly when they both turned to look at her. She held out the mayonnaise to Gabriel, who took it with a smile and a kiss.

"Thank you." The brief look he gave her seemed to say something along the lines of 'don't expect miracles', but Claire was already more than happy at having found the two men working side by side and in good enough spirits to actually laugh, if only a bit.

Noah kept one hand on the counter and returned her grateful gaze. "Just don't expect me to walk you down the aisle any time soon. I don't think my heart could take it." As it was, even the small kisses he had seen were making his stomach clench and his hand itch for his gun. The only thing keeping him back was the happiness radiating off his Claire-Bear in almost palpable waves.

Claire rolled her eyes. "Jesus, dad, we've only been together a month."

"And two days," Gabriel added, helpfully, now making the salad dressing.

That made Claire snort a laugh. "And two days," she confirmed. "Besides… it's not like he asked me." She grinned, cheekily.

"You are a strong, independent woman," Gabriel explained and turned to look over his shoulder. "Why don't you ask me?"

Claire shrugged. "Cool. Marry me?"

"Sure thing, gorgeous. Any time and any place," he replied promptly. "But maybe we should wait until your dad here recovers from the heart attack you're currently causing."

Claire's straight face crumbled, and she burst out laughing. Noah did indeed look a bit worse for the wear.

"Easy, dad, we're not quite there yet," she assured him, and Gabriel snickered.

Noah gave her a suspicious look. "Sounds like you have been thinking about it, though." After only a month! he wanted to add but didn't.

Claire shrugged, and Gabriel nodded at her encouragingly over his shoulder. "Well… Angela's been throwing hints…" she said, tentatively.

Gabriel snorted. "If by 'hints' you mean that she keeps saying that we should tell her the moment we so much as think about considering it because she wants to plan a full-on Petrelli wedding… then yes."

The two smiled at each other, for a few seconds forgetting the world around them.

Then Claire took a deep breath and directed her soft smile at her father. "I kind of… knew this would eventually happen, even before we got together." Her eyes flickered to Gabriel for a second, then back to Noah. "It's going to happen, and it's going to be okay."

Gabriel finished his work and turned around to face the other two. "When we're ready."

Claire drowned in his captivating brown eyes again, letting herself breathe nothing but security and love. "No hurries," she said quietly.

Gabriel slowly shook his head. "None whatsoever."

.
And Noah could see the future, now. He could see the patient pace in which his Claire would walk the days to come alongside Gabriel. Discovering in their own time.

He might not have truly believed in Gabriel – and he knew himself well enough to realise that this would take quite some time – and he certainly didn't trust him… but there was one thing he did have.

Hope.

.
END

100808

Okay... That's that :)
It turned out that my pièce de resistence (Noah) was resisting quite a bit XD Until I realised that I don't need acceptance and trust from him just now... :)

Thanks for joining me on my ride