Family Secret

Participants:

bones_icon.gif claire2_icon.gif

Scene Title Family Secret
Synopsis Claire breaks down and tells Bones about her secret… who her biological family is.
Date February 12, 2010

New York Public Library


With the snow falling steadily, it was a wonder that Bones managed to weather the first night of the winter storm up top but in the morning he began to grudgingly move all of this things downstairs in to the room the Claire had first offered him. After he got settled in, he actually dragged the mattress in the room out in to the hallway and blocked it off safe for a six inch crack to the side that most people could squeeze themselves through, effectively shutting the downstairs off from the elements fairly well. It only took a few hours before the downstairs actually became warm. Not about to allow being couped up to get the better of him, he uses the long hallway to exercise, running sprints up and down it and performing various acrobatic flips and cartwheels. This evening is no different and he is back at it, running so more of those sprints of his.

In and out… That's been Claire… when she's in, the young ex-cheerleader is in the records room going over various bits of information, only looking up when Bones goes flipping or sprinting by, a brow lifted in amusement. When she's out.. who knows what she is up too.

Of course, at this moment in time she is in her room, looking at the photos Rebel had put out, yet again. The laptop resting on her stomach as she lays on the matresses. She's thoughtful…. well until she hears the sound of Bones running again. She looks past the glowing screen in time to see of flash of his figure running past.

"Bones?" She calls when the blur goes past her room again. "What… are you up too?"

"Huh?" Can be heard from down the hallway and Bones drags himself up to a halt and backtracks a moment before he easily places his hands out to touch either wall in the hallway and gives a hope, actually climbing the walls. When he pokes his head in to her room, Bones does so from the top of the door frame and in a nearly upside down position. "Just exercising. If I don't keep up my muscle tone and I happen to miss a few meals, my body will start eating muscle. If I lose muscle, with as heavy as my frame is, without muscle proper muscle tone I could easily become an invalid."

"Oh…" Claire says softly, tilting her head to one side a bit as he hangs here, a brow lifted. A finger flips across the touch pad of the laptop and starts the shut down process. "Your just always on the move… so I was curious." As soon as the screen goes black, she shuts the lid slowly. "I was just sitting her wishing Cardinal was around to discuss this stuff." Setting the laptop aside, she moves to sit up, scooting back to rest her back against the wall. "I need to get back in contact with PARIAH soon." Her tone a touch bland at the thought.

Seeming to allow himself to simply fall from his perch, Bones lands in a deep crouch before he steps in to the room. "Sorry, I know it can be annoying to some, my constantly moving and doing something at all times." he says, leaning against the wall and does his best to still himself, folding his hands in front of him as he listens to Claire, nodding slowly. "Well don't go alone. You will need backup. Last thing we need is our indestructible lieutenant kidnapped."

"They wouldn't kidnap me." Claire comments lightly with a smirk. "I've known them too long.. West and I were together for a couple of years… joined PARIAH together and all." She pulls one foot up to rest it on the edge of the mattresses and rests her temple on her knee while watching him try not to move too much. "I just… Liz has sooo much going on I don't want to bother her too much with this stuff… I'm thinking of going to them.. They need to know that I got a deal from the government and hope they don't suddenly want nothing to do with me."

"From what I've seen and understand of them, Claire, they are not afraid to do unscrupulous things. I do not claim to be any white knight, but I do not hurt the innocent, even to benefit myself. And you say that the same people would not kidnap you or hold you hostage if it happened to further their agenda?" Bones crosses his arms over his chest and gives Claire a slightly confused look. "I may be offering counsel to something I know nothing about, but I do know how to follow my gut."

"I'm not ready to write them off yet.. That is why I want to talk to them again." Her cheek rubs across the roughness of her jeans as she moves to rest her chin on her knee, blue eyes on the wall before her. "And I'm still trying to get a hold of my uncle. I want him aware… though… he hasn't been the same since he…." She trails off, eyes flickering over to Bones. ".. He was playing host for a time of… an.. energy.. It's hard to explain… He's been trying to live a normal life since then."

There is a moment of pause, before the cheerleader pushes herself to her feet. Claire motions him to follow as she scoops up the lamp she has by the door of her room. Her path leading to the records room.

"Well I wouldn't write them off either, but I wouldn't put too much by them though." Bones says before listening patiently concerning her uncle. "We all wish we could live the life we hear about at one time or another. Few who have it actually like it." he smiles slowly and then blinks, watching Claire rise and follows her agreeably down the hall to the records room. "What's up?" he asks, certainly curious.

The young blonde doesn't say anything really, she just slips into the records room. The lamp is set down near a corner of a room and Claire goes to work moving boxes. Her body turning one way and then the other as she puts aside items, until she hefts a familiar box. The comic book box.

With a serious look, Claire turns towards Bones and pushes the box at him. "You might as well…. It'll all come into light when and if you meet my uncle." Taking a deep breath and lets it out slowly. "These comics are over a certain period of time right before the Midtown explosion." Oh… the things he'll learn about the small blonde in front of him.

Relieving Claire of the box, Bones looks down at the contents for a moment, frowning softly in thought before he holds it back out to her. "No. I don't need to know anything in here." he says, holding it back out for her to take. "I do not want to know anything else about you but what you reveal to me personally. It is an invasion of privacy. Not just yours but knowing these people are real? It's a violation of all their rights to privacy. The reason our lives are not open books are because we are not meant to be read." he steps back to lean against the doorway and smiles at her. "Thank you for trusting me enough though. I am honored and a little humbled."

"Are you sure?" Claire asks looking somewhat surprised when he refuses the box. She glances down at it and frowns. "My… life is complicated… Full of secrets." One arm cradles the box and she runs a hand over the top. "What your told…. what is read in these books, might be known.. but few know what is in them is real… someones life…. well.. more then just me." Blue eyes travel over the lid thoughtfully. "I guess… I'm telling you I trust you with the secrets of who I really am."

Her eyes lift to look up at him, "But I'll give you my biggest secret… something that can't be told in public.. It will hurt my father." Claire smiles a bit. "My biological father.. He… doesn't even acknowledge I exist."

"I'm sure, Claire. As deeply as I am touched that you trust me enough to reveal that wealth of secrets to me, I am really only interested in you how you are now. Everyone is entitled to their secrets and omissions so long as it does not hurt anyone. Consider this me trusting you as well. Trusting that there is nothing in there that I /should/ know." Bones nods towards the box before he spreads his hands as he shrugs his shoulders, looking down at the ground. He glances back up as she starts in on this revelation, nodding slowly. "You mentioned that you were adopted, yeah."

"Yeah…" The box is set down gently. "My adoptive father and his partner went in after my biological mother.. She is a pyrokinetic.. My adoptive father, Noah Bennet saved me from the fire whe n she tried to kill them all. His reward was being saddled with me. I was barely a year." The lamp is picked up again and she moves to slip past him into the hall. "So the Company gave me to my adoptive parents to raise." Heading back to her room she sighs. "Anyhow.. my biological father never knew I existed until my mom told him.."

Stopping, Claire looks back over her shoulder, giving him a small smile. "My father…." There is a small beat of time before she offers up the secret… "is Nathan Petrelli."

Following Claire out in to the hallway, Bones gives a smirk and then a chuckle. "Yeah, and my father's Bill Clinton." he grins as he pats her on the shoulder, passing her to enter her room and moves to sit down just inside the doorway, leaning his back up against the wall. He reaches down in to his cargo pocket and pulls out a couple protein bars which he unwraps and begins to nibble at. "It's okay, Claire. If you really didn't want to tell me who your father is, that's fine. Don't worry about it."

There is amusement in Claire expression, not the reaction she expected by far. "I know.. kind of hard to believe.. But.. it's true." She moves to drop onto her bed again. "The uncle I mention.. Peter Petrelli.. He was PARIAH as well." Her arm moves to rest under her head as she flops back on the mattresses. "My grandparents.. Angela and Arthur Petrelli were company founders.. and my grandfather owned Pinehearst. He was… as really bad person."

"Arthur stripped me of my ability and used it for himself. Which almost killed me." A small frown tugs at the corner of her mouth. "Pheonix.. took him down… Killed him. Well, Richard gave the killing blow."

"Whoa… wha?…But I…huh? That doesn't ma-… Why would..? Whoa…" Bones bows his head for a minute as he closes his eyes, one hand raising up to massage his temple. It all takes a minute to process before something clicks. "Wait a minute… Your father was the one who outed us. /And/ he enacted that registration act. I'm technically breaking the law by existing and not wanting to paint a bullseye on my head because of your father?" he thinks about this for a moment before he nods his head slowly. "Yeeeah, you're right. If I were you, I wouldn't go around sharing something like that."

"Ya think?" Claire can't help but chuckle. "I could ruin his career too.. One little DNA test.. and the President has a terrorist daughter." Her smile fades some at the edges. "He flies you know. My father. He's one of us." Blue eyes scan across the ceiling her tone almost has a sad edge to it. She's only seen the man less then a hand full of times. "Hell of a skeleton in the closet, hmm?" A corner of her mouth quirks upwards a bit. "Luckily, I'm more my adoptive father's daughter… I proved that on the mission."

"I'm sorry, Claire, but I gotta say. You're father's a real /bastard/. What kind of an idiot outs his own kind and instills more fear of us in the public? Damn. Well if I ever meet him, I apologize ahead of time, I'm going to take a swing at him. And since I'm with you? Might actually get a chance." Bones says, smirking quietly at this last before knitting his fingers together. "You know, this makes me even more thankful that you are you. That you took after your adoptive father. Lucky, really. Blessed even. Geez…" he shakes his head, flipping a few of his dreadlocks over his shoulder.

"You haven't met Noah Bennet yet." She offers up, with a smile. "He's a bastard in his own right. But a well meaning one who does what he has to… especially if it keeps me and my family safe." Her hand hand moves to rest behind her head as well, eyes drifting shut a bit, "I loved my adoptive father and hated him at the same time… Not sure about now."

A short humorless laugh comes from Claire, "Course, I'm too nervous to see him.. Last time I saw my adoptive father was when I was in Costa Verde.. years ago."

"Damn, Claire. You're just beset on all sides by bastards." Bones notes as he gets up slowly and moves to sit beside her mattress on the floor and relaxes with his back up against the wall once more. He leans his head back and sighs, closing his eyes for a moment before he blinks and a slow smile tugs at his lips. "Hey, do you like Chinese food? Szechwan, Hunan?" he asks, something of an Asiatic accent showing through as he mentions those types of Chinese cuisine. "My mother happens to make some of the best mapo doufu you will ever taste. And with your ability to regenerate, you might actually live through it."

There is soft chuckling from the blonde regenerator, her head turning slightly to look up at him. "That bad, huh?" Grinning she shakes her head slowly.. "But anyhow, I guess when they have me as their daughter, thy have to be bastards." Claire jokes lightly. "I was a cheerleader in high school. Dad was always scaring the guys"

"My adoptive mom… She makes a wonderful apple pie." Claire turns her head back towards the ceiling, closing her eyes. "Maybe you'll get to meet her sometimes. She moved to New York recently." After a long moment, it almost seems like she asleep until she says, "And yes.. I like Chinese food."

"Maybe we can swing buy your mom's place and grab some apple pie and then we can jaunt on down to my parent's place and try to destroy your tastebuds." Bones says, raising his hand to carefully comb his fingers through her long blonde hair. He looks down at Claire for a long moment before he licks his lips and blinks a little hard. "I, uh… should let you get to sleep. I'll go up top to make sure we're alone and then close the hallway back in…" he says, starting to rise to his feet.

"Mmm…" The sound of agreement is soft and tired… Seems Claire has started to drift off. The rhythm of her breathing has slowed, a sure sign she's going under. A deep breath is taken as she tries to wake up some. "Sounds like a plan…." She murmurs as she exhales, shifting a bit to curl up on her side, her head cradled on her arm. "Night, Bones."


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