Title: Never Again
Characters/Paring: Peter/Claire, mention of Sandra
Rating: G
Word Count: 360
Spoilers/Warnings: Post S3, but no real spoilers.
Summary: Peter has an epiphany.
Disclaimer: I'm sorry to disappoint you, but, alas, I do not own Heroes. That privilege belongs to Tim Kring and NBC.
A.N: The summary is actually really misleading because this is in Claire's POV, but I think it's fitting. XD And yet I only think of Sweeney Todd... anyway, this was written for Commen Sense for my meme challenge on LJ. :D Yay! Rum all around! Enjoy. :3

When the world had gone from crazy to relatively normal again she had returned to California with her father, who had been welcomed with closed arms back into the house. Her mother had swept her up into a bone-crushing hug, her brother had rolled his eyes with a fond smile, and Mr. Muggles had yipped twice in excitement. Peter had stayed in New York with his mother and brother, and she thought that had been that. She'd go back to rarely seeing any of her biological family, just as it always had been.

Except barely three days after she was back there was a knock at her door, and there he was--shuffling awkwardly in front of her mother with his hands shoved in his pockets as he introduced himself. Claire watched from the top of the stairs, mouth hanging agape in surprise.

"Peter?" she breathed out, and he glanced up at her from over her mother's head, lips quirking upwards as their eyes met.

"Long time no see," Peter joked lightly, and in the next instant he stepped to the side, taking a few steps towards her as Claire flew down the stairs, ramming into him with so much force that it had sent him stumbling back. For some reason she didn't understand tears were streaming down her face. He was muttering into her hair, arms closing around her like some sort of security blanket she hadn't even realized she needed.

"What are you doing here?" She whispered into his chest, and Peter chuckled lowly, pressing a chaste kiss against the side of her head.

"It occurred to me that real heroes typically don't leave their damsels in distress to fend for themselves after rescuing them," he half-joked before his voice became more serious, and he drew back slightly to look her in the face again. "I'm not going to leave you again."

Claire ignored her mother's curious eyes on them as he wrapped her in a hug again; she clung to Peter as though he was the only thing keeping her from drowning, and she knew that he had meant every word that he had said.