Big thanks to empath89 who managed to set my head straight on the whole reviewing thing. You're right, this is the easiest way. I'd also like to thank Tera Earth, CassandraAlice, tam, Mary-Marie and hey there you, who read and reviewed this story or the prequel. It's for people like you that I write for.

Enjoy this second to last chapter.

Chapter Eight

The Petrelli’s apartment, Las Vegas

Food and rest, that’s what all three men had agreed on when they’d moved the reunion into the comfortable sitting room.

Nathan had called pizza service (and Peter had to remind himself later to mark this day with a big red X in his calendar because… that was definitely a first. He couldn’t remember Nathan ever having ordered something as ordinary as pizza before!).

So now they were seated around boxes full of delicious hot pizza, munching away the stress of the past hours, and Peter threw fond glances at the small girl by his side from time to time. Claire was seated between himself and her dad (the surrogate one, of course) and although her eyes seemed to droop several times and she’d long since stopped eating the girl kept herself awake determinedly.

Peter couldn’t begin to understand what millions of thoughts must tumble through her head right now. She’d obviously known before today that Bennet was ‘only’ her surrogate father, Peter had realized that quickly, but still… suddenly being confronted with her birth father, and the action-filled way in which it had come to pass, that couldn’t have been easy for Claire at all. The girl must be confused as hell right now, Peter assumed.

And Nathan?

He didn’t seem to be doing much better, if the puzzled and beaten look on his face was any indication. Peter had noticed that his brother had yet to address Claire directly. He seemed to be at a loss for words, and for the usually so levelheaded and self-assured Nathan that had to be a truly uncomfortable feeling.

But Peter had no idea how to help him deal for now. What could you say to the nine-year-old daughter that you’d never met before? ‘Hi, I’m your dad, sorry for not meeting you sooner, how’ve you been so far?’ Not so much the best idea, Peter knew.

Nathan seemed to be thinking along the same road, for Peter had heard him several times take a breath as if to speak, only to sigh and quickly take another bite of pizza.

Okay, this wouldn’t do. Peter threw a look at the girl next to him and nudged her side. “So, Claire… you probably have a lot of questions for Nathan, right?”

He could feel both Nathan and Bennet glare at him but Peter kept his gaze trained on Claire.

“Ugh, yeah… a few,” the girl replied with a shy look to where Nathan was seated opposite from her.

“Well then, shoot,” Peter encouraged his niece with a sly grin.

“Are you sure?” Claire asked hesitantly and finally Nathan faced his daughter and shrugged quickly. “Sure, now’s as good a time as any.”

“Okay, ugh… can I fly, too?”

“What?” Nathan frowned surprised. Not the kind of question he’d expected but… considering what the girl had witnessed over the course of the last few hours, it was only justified, right?

“Peter said he got the flying from you, so I thought, perhaps…”

“I don’t think it works that way, Claire-Bear,” Bennet threw in before Nathan could come up with anything. He glared at the older man, not liking the answer, although he’d wanted to say the exact same thing. But Bennet didn’t know that, did he?

“Peter didn’t inherit the ability from me, Claire, he just, well…” Nathan broke off, unsure how to phrase it.

“Oh, you mean he copied it?” Claire understood at once and Bennet had to suppress a smile seeing the dumbfounded look on Petrelli’s face. Ha, hadn’t thought his daughter to be that clever, huh?

“Something like that, yeah!” Peter grinned down at his niece. “That’s what I can do, I copy other people’s abilities.”

“So, do I have an ability, too? Maybe I can do other stuff…” Claire’s eager voice was cut off by Bennet placing a hand on her arm.

“Claire, that’s enough,” Bennet’s voice was firm and it rang with finality.

“But…”

“No, I’m sure there are other things you’d like to know about Petrelli.”

“You know what, Bennet,” Nathan groused. “First of all, I understand why you’d have a problem with calling me her dad, even if that’s what I am, but could you at least try to call me something other than Petrelli in front of her? The name is Nathan and…” his gaze swept to Claire with a slight smile, “I think you both should call me that, for now.”

“Okay,” the little girl nodded and looked up to Bennet who stared at Nathan silently. “Dad?”

“Alright,” Bennet finally nodded. Nathan watched him for a while longer, waiting for the man to offer the use of his first name, too but… well, no such luck.

“Well, suit yourself, Bennet!” Nathan grumbled before his eyes took on a darker glint and he continued: “Oh, and by the way, Claire can ask me anything she likes, so if she wants to know more about our abilities then…”

“No!” Bennet stood up from the couch and glared down at Nathan. “I didn’t protect her from the company all those years only for you to come along and put her in danger again! She shouldn’t… she’s too young to…”

“Dad?” Claire tried to get Bennet’s attention by pulling his sleeve but Bennet kept his gaze locked on Nathan the whole time.

And suddenly Nathan understood. He was about to voice his thoughts, namely that Bennet must know about Claire having an ability, when he suddenly remembered the man’s words from before. ‘Keep your tongue in check around Claire…’

Nathan quickly thought about it. Claire obviously didn’t know yet that she had an ability and it wouldn’t do for her to find out right now. The small girl had heard enough life-altering things for one day.

Nathan took a deep breath and stared into Bennet’s piercing eyes. Then he nodded silently and turned to his daughter again.

“Claire, I’m sure there are other things you’d like to know about me, alright?” He smiled at her and noticed out of the corner of his eyes Bennet sitting down again, a relieved sigh escaping his tight lips. They would talk about this later.

“Ugh, yeah,” Claire mumbled, “what about my mommy? Do I have one?”

Shit. Both Nathan and Bennet closed their eyes for a second, not sure how to answer that. Eventually it was Bennet who addressed his daughter.

“Of course you had a mother, sweetheart. But she died when you were little.”

“How?”

“There was an accident, Claire,” Bennet pulled his daughter into his arms and she snuggled up to his side. ”She died in a fire seven years ago. Her name was Meredith and she was beautiful like you.”

Nathan silently watched them from his position, glad for perhaps the first time since this whole thing had started, that there was someone else taking over for now. He wouldn’t have known how to handle these things on his own.

He wasn’t prepared to deal with the small girl’s questions, Nathan realized all of a sudden. No matter how many times Nathan had imagined this situation in the past, now that it was there… he was out of his depths. And truly glad for any help he could get.

Even if the person to give said help was Bennet.

Some time later Bennet looked up from the sheet of paper he’d been working on for at least an hour and his bleary eyes traveled over to his daughter. Claire was currently sitting cross-legged on the couch, sifting through some photo books Peter had dug out from somewhere in the apartment. Apparently the Petrelli’s kept a few personal things there although Nathan had assured earlier that their parents never used this pace.

Odd, but… whatever.

So now Claire and Peter were busy sifting through the pictures and the young man had one story or another for every picture he was showing to Claire.

Bennet let out a deep sigh. God, he was so damn tired! He’d love nothing more than to lie down and close his eyes but… he needed to come up with a plan, now! He hadn’t been able to dig up much yet, his thoughts were too jumbled and everything seemed to end up at a dead end. If he could just… God, he was too tired to think of anything now.

And the damn comfy-chair he had folded his tall form into for now was definitely not helping at all! It sure as hell didn’t deserve its name. It wasn’t comfy at all, at least not enough to fall asleep in, confining as it was to his long limbs.

Well, and since Peter and Claire were currently taking up all the space on the couch…

“Claire,” Bennet said at last, “I think it’s time for you to go to sleep.”

Claire looked up from the photo book and shook her head determinedly. “No, Dad! Please, just a little bit longer. I’m not tired at all.”

“How can you not be tired, sweetheart? After everything…”

“Dad, I’m really not tired!” Claire whined. “Please, Peter was just telling this funny story…”

“Mr. Bennet,” Peter cut in suddenly, “I really don’t mind staying up with her for a little while longer. But you could use some rest, you look… well, you really look like you’re about to fall asleep on your feet,” Peter smiled sheepishly and Noah suddenly found it strange to be addressed by him as Mr. Bennet. He was about to do something about that, offer the use of his first name to this young man who was, after all, his daughter’s uncle, but then Claire pulled Peter’s attention to herself again and before he could say anything the two were engrossed in another fascinating conversation about whatever.

Bennet sighed again.

Peter’s offer to look after Claire while he’d try to get some rest had been generous enough and under different circumstances he’d have long since taken him up on it and gone to bed but…

See, the problem was that the small apartment had only one of those.

One bedroom with one bed in it.

And Bennet didn’t know for sure but he would take any bet that Nathan was taking up that space right now. The elder brother had, after a trip to the bathroom earlier, simply not returned to the room and Bennet assumed he must have taken a turn for the bedroom instead.

Well, either that or he’d collapsed while finishing his business in the bathroom.

Noah let out another sigh, threw one last look over to Claire and then heaved his stiff body up into a standing position. His joints creaked dangerously when he dragged his feet over the carpet out of the room.

Both the bathroom door and the one leading to the bedroom were closed and Noah actually knocked once before he stuck his head into the bathroom.

No Nathan lay passed out on the floor. Not that he’d been worried or anything… no.

Noah quickly took care of his business and while he washed his hands afterwards he threw a look into the mirror again, just like he’d done a few hours ago.

Nothing had changed, he still wasn’t sure he recognized himself anywhere in the pale face that stared back at him. Blue eyes, barely open, were circled by dark rings all around and especially his slightly swollen nose and the bruises on his left eye gave him a rather rogue and dangerous look.

Criminal, kidnapper, serial killer… hadn’t that been what Petrelli had accused him of? Well, Noah could sure as hell imagine anyone thinking that now, with the way he looked.

Still, he somehow hoped that Petrelli had come to understand… things weren’t always just black or white, good or evil. People weren’t either criminals or saints with nothing in between.

The world didn’t work like that and Noah hoped that Petrelli had come around enough to see that there was, indeed, a lot of gray in the world. And in people.

Noah had known that for years. And not only the morally gray that he’d once assured to be comfortable with, a lifetime ago, in Thompson’s office…

People did things, questionable things, not because they were evil and liked to do them (well, apart from some, like Thompson perhaps). No, most people did questionable things because they had no other choice left.

And Noah had done a lot of questionable things, many of them having to do with Claire and therefore Nathan by proxy. He’d been everything Nathan had accused him of, one time or another in his life. Criminal, kidnapper, serial killer.

But above all else he’d also been one other thing: a father who’d tried to protect his little girl by all means. Noah just hoped that one day Nathan would realize that and maybe add it to the list.

When he finally left the bathroom Noah walked up to the bedroom and, without conscious thought or plausible reason, cautiously peeked inside.

And, sure enough, there Nathan was, deeply asleep on the king-size bed that dominated the room. He hadn’t turned off the light and the soft orange glow of the bedside lamp crept over his face and softened the sharp features visibly.

Noah stepped inside and closed the door without making any sound. He crept closer to the foot of the bed and noticed that Nathan hadn’t even managed to take off his slacks all the way before he’d fallen asleep. One half of it lay on the ground while the other was still bunched around his right leg, stuck out from under the bedcovers Nathan had only barely come around to pull over his body.

He must have been as tired as Noah felt right now.

Nathan had come to lie on his back, with his face turned slightly to the right, and Noah watched the bare chest heave and fall in a deep and even rhythm and was nearly lulled to sleep while still standing there staring at the man.

Eventually Noah shrugged and sat down on the edge of the bed. He pulled off his shoes and then started on his shirt buttons.

“What do you think you’re doing, Bennet?”

Nathan’s voice was rough from sleep but still annoyed, Noah noticed. He simply shrugged his shoulders, a gesture completely lost on Nathan since he hadn’t opened his eyes, and continued to pull off his shirt. Then he stood up to take off his trousers. That’s when he noticed that Nathan had his eyes still closed.

Before he could stop himself Noah asked: “How did you know I’m not Peter?”

“Peter would have let loose at least six idiotic statements by now,” Nathan answered promptly and Noah saw his mouth quirk the tiniest bit. “Also, the mattress wouldn’t have dipped that far.”

“Are you saying I’m fat? You shock me, Nathan!” Bennet smirked and sat down on the bed again.

“That’s the first time I’ve heard you say my name,” Nathan replied sleepily and somewhat perplexed. His head lolled to the left and finally he sprang one eye open to watch Bennet climb into the bed.

“Once again I ask, Bennet. What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Move over,” Bennet replied and shoved Nathan’s arm out of the way. “What does it look like I’m doing? I’m going to bed.” He stretched out on his back with a content sigh.

The bed was big enough for there to be at least a few good inches of free space between them, and still… Nathan shifted to the far side immediately. He noticed that Bennet’s eyes had closed as soon as his head had hit the soft pillow underneath.

“You’re going to bed? Here?”

“Do you have another bed hidden somewhere in a closet? I doubt it, so… yeah, here!”

“The hell you are!” Nathan’s voice rose slightly. “I’m not sleeping with you here!”

Noah cracked one eye open and turned his head. “Well, then you lie awake with me here, see how much I care!” And he closed his eye again.

“Bennet,” Nathan growled low in his throat. He could feel the adrenaline charge his tired body again, the pulse was starting to rush through his veins and his heartbeat quickened. This man was impossible! Absolutely crazy!

“Bennet!” he let out again when the man hadn’t moved.

“Shut up and go to sleep,” Bennet gave back and then a big yawn overtook him. Once his mouth was able to obey him again he added: “I need sleep and so do you! I’ve been trying to come up with a plan for the last hour but I’m too tired to think straight. So let me get a few hours of rest, okay? The sooner you let me do that, the sooner I’ll be able to think of something to get this mess sorted. And then you can go back to your life.”

“What?” Nathan’s eyes flew open and he stared at Bennet from the side. “You think I could go back to New York and my job and… as if nothing ever happened? Are you nuts?”

“No, tired! So could you please save your pillow-talk for tomorrow?” Bennet replied and turned onto his left side. Nathan watched the broad back settle down more comfortably. The white undershirt stretched over taught muscles and then one hand reached behind to pull the comforter higher up. Nathan felt his own body become exposed in the process and he shot out a hand to hold onto the bedcovers.

“Give ‘em back!” he growled at once, not caring that he probably sounded like a petulant child. He tucked harder at the garment in his hands.

The movement propelled Bennet onto his back again, closer to Nathan than before, and the comforter was firmly clutched in his hand. He eyed Nathan closely before he smirked: “Now I know where Claire got that adorable pout from!”

Nathan blinked, completely taken aback by the sudden change in Bennet’s mood. Before he could come up with a reply though Bennet went on teasingly: “Though I wouldn’t have taken you for one of the ‘hoggin all the covers’ club, Nathan! What is it you’re hiding under… there?” The last word was accompanied by a dirty leer down Nathan’s body.

Nathan couldn’t stop his eyes from following Bennet’s gaze down (not that there was anything to see, mind you). He quickly looked up again and stared into Bennet’s smirking face.

Against his will Nathan’s lips twisted into a smile. “You know, Bennet,” he drawled and all of a sudden let go of the bedcovers, “for someone who claims to be straight as a pole you surely know how to flirt.” He shifted his body onto his back again and lifted his arms to cross them under his head. Then he risked a glance at the man by his side.

Bennet looked at the hazel eyes that bore into him from under ridiculously long lashes and grinned. “You call this flirting? Man, you haven’t gotten around much, have you?”

“Around gays? Thanks, I’ve had my share.”

“My fill of losing,” Bennet replied softly and Nathan blinked confused. “What?” Had the man completely lost his mind now?

“Oh, you know… ‘I’ve had my share, my fill of losing,’…” Bennet smiled at him from barely opened eyes. “Frank Sinatra? My way? Come on, don’t tell me you don’t know…”

“Of course I know ‘My Way’, you idiot!” Nathan exclaimed and leaned up on one elbow. “What I’m not getting here is why you’d start reciting lyrics all of a sudden! Don’t tell me you’re gonna sing me a serenade now, Bennet!”

Bennet closed his eyes and sighed. “I would if I knew that it would put you to sleep. But… God, I’m so damn tired right now that stupid things like that actually make sense in my head.”

“Okay, now I’m convinced,” Nathan leaned back down and reached for the bedside lamp. “You need to sleep this off. Now.” He switched off the light and at once the room was wrapped in complete darkness.

“Oh, thank God,” Bennet sighed and let his body relax into the mattress.

“Shut up and go to sleep,” Nathan groused and turned onto his right side. He was just about to drift off when Bennet suddenly whispered: “Nathan?”

“What now, Bennet?” Nathan prepared himself for another stupid remark but what he got instead simply turned him speechless.

“Call me Noah, okay?”

TBC

Did anyone get the ‘hoggin all the covers’ reference? No, guess not, it was rather lame as far as references go.

‘Hoggin all the covers’ is the title of an album by “The Band From TV” (with Greg Grunberg and Hugh Laurie). And Adrian Pasdar (Nathan) plays the guitar. Lame, I know! But that’s just the weirdness of my mind.

I still haven't finished the last chapter, so it may take a few more days for this story to be complete. Please let me know what you think in the meantime. I'm also always open to suggestions on what you'd like to see happen next. Let me know, okay?