Catch Him If You Can
Title: Catch Him If You Can
Author: Harikari
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Implied Paire
Word Count: 499
Warnings: Angst, implied pre-incest, spoilers for seasons 1 and 2 and speculation about season 3.
AN: My first attempt at Paire, and my first attempt at het in a long while. Written for the 'speed' challenge over at pairechallenge.
Summary: She caught up to him in Roswell, New Mexico.
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She caught up to him in Roswell, New Mexico.
Jared Langley lived in apartment 1E of the Mountain View apartment complex. He was thirty, a barista at the local Starbucks, and could easily outrun a cheetah on its best day. His place was on the ground floor. When Claire arrived his door was open.
"Hello?" There was no answer. She stepped inside.
The apartment was dark except for the rays of sunlight shining in through the gaping front door; Claire paused to allow her eyes to adjust to the dimness.
"Hello?" she said again, this time in a whisper. She walked on - through the living room, passed an untidy kitchen, into a hallway and -
"Hi, Claire," came Peter's voice, suddenly and from the darkness. Claire jumped.
"You...you scared me-" she started, but Peter cut her off.
"How did you find me?"
Claire swallowed. She could feel her heart beating fast in her chest.
"It doesn't matter."
"Right."
And with that one word Claire knew that he knew. (She had begged the Haitian and Dr. Suresh for help; had searched through her father's files, tight knuckled and starting to sweat with 'he's going to catch me, I know it' nervousness, all so an educated guess could be made about where her youth of an uncle would show up next - all so she could leave behind those who had helped her once that guess was made and set out to catch up with Peter herself, alone).
Peter snorted. "Of course I know," he said, but it didn't sound harsh. "I've met Matt."
Claire blinked. She could make out Peter's slim but muscled form slouched in the hallway before her. "Peter..." she started, trailed off. "I'm here because..."
"Nathan." Hearing him say the name was painful. "You're here for the same reason everybody is looking for me." And that did come out sounding harsh, bitter.
"No," she denied, and he shifted; stared into her eyes. "This. What you're doing, gathering powers. It-"
"This guy. He fell asleep with his headphones on and I got up close without him noticing and...do you know what I can do now?"
"You have the ability of super speed." And as the words left her mouth tears welled in her eyes, but didn't fall.
Peter reached out. His fingers trailed lightly over her cheek, disappeared. "Claire." Softly. "I'm going to gather abilities, I'm going to become stronger than anything the world has ever known, and I'm going to destroy whatever...whoever killed Nathan. I'm not going to stop because your father, my mother...because they're afraid. I'm not going to stop. Not for them."
Stop. It was the plead at the edge of her mind, the tip of her tongue. But she didn't think it, couldn't say it.
Peter smiled; leaned in and kissed her. For a moment all Claire knew was shock, heat, love.
And a split second later, as she moved her mouth to respond to the kiss, he was already gone.