Picture Perfect - 1/4
Author’s Note: Thank freetheelves2 for her fabulous beta work, and for her encouragement to post it. I’ve been sitting on this particular piece since November, not sure if I should post it or not. The entire thing's written, so there won't be any huge gaps in posting.
Chapter One
“So, thoughts?” The man in the white lab coat asks the similarly clad man standing beside him.
The second doctor looks through the two-way mirror at their patient, and shakes his head. “He’s not strong enough; he’ll never make it out in the real world.”
“Really? I don’t know, Gabriel may surprise you.”
“Nah. Ten bucks says that he either relapses or kills himself within two months of his release. I’ve seen cases like this before. The poor miserable bastard will just have too much guilt to deal with.”
The first doctor stares at the patient again. “We really shouldn’t bet on our patients. It’s wrong.”
“And that’s stopped us before… when?” The other man laughs.
“I don’t know. Something tells me he’s going to make it.”
“Well, we’re going to find out. Bishop signed the release papers an hour ago.” He motions at Gabriel. “You want to tell him, or shall I?”
“I’ll do it.”
- - - - - - - - - -
“What?” Gabriel stares up blankly at his doctor. “You’ve got to be joking.”
The doctor smiles at him, kindly. “No joke, Mr. Gray. It’s time to leave.”
“I can’t leave!”
“Of course you can. You’re better now, and we don’t have the resources to keep you here when there are sick people that do need our help - you don’t. We’re all agreed that you’re cured.”
Gabriel wants to cry. “But… I can’t. You’re all I have.” He hasn’t told them that he can still hear Sylar in his head; he knows he’s not completely cured yet.
“Mr. Gray. Listen to me carefully. You have got to go back out there in the real world. You can’t stay here as a patient, and you don’t have the right mindset to be one of our operatives. Why aren’t you thrilled? You can start your life over now!”
Gabriel tells himself it’s all a bad dream, that any second he’s going to wake up and everything’s going to be okay. “I don’t have a life. I have nothing.”
“It’s a great opportunity then, son. The Company’s going to give you a little money, just to help you out and for being so cooperative. You can build whatever type of life you’d like. Stay with your family until you can get back on your feet, then do whatever you’d like. Get a new job, go back to school, travel, find a nice girl and settle down - there’s so much out there to do! If you have to, find your victims or their families and make amends. Just do something!”
“My mother’s dead. I don’t have any one to turn to because I killed her. I don’t deserve to have a life.” He whimpers.
The doctor sighs. “Now, Gabriel, we both know that’s not true. I thought we’d talked about this before. That wasn’t you. You know that. Also, you do have family - I thought you said you had an aunt and a cousin. Surely they can take you in.”
“Maybe.” Gabriel doesn’t sound convinced. He doesn’t know if he has the courage to turn to Aunt Caroline or Shelby to ask for help. He’s really not sure that he can face Shelby without being tempted…
- - - - - - - - - -
The steady red blinking light on his answering machine is the perfect ending to the horrible day he’d been having. Without even having to check the caller ID, West automatically knows who’d called. He wonders if he’s going to hear yells, curses, or worst of all, disappointed sighs. His finger hesitates over the play button for just a second before starting the message.
“West,” and then there’s an awkward moment of silence, “I’ve just heard from Elle about your most recent failure.” West can almost see the disappointment on Bob Bishop’s face, how his mouth is crooked downward in a slight frown and how his cheeks droop. He hates that look, especially when he’s the cause of it. “I thought I had given you a simple task, one that you couldn’t possibly mess up. I hate to admit that I may have made a mistake. Call me when you get in.”
Cursing under his breath, he grabs his cell phone. One ring… two rings… normally, Bob would have answered by now, he must be really disappointed in him… three rings… Finally, on the fourth ring, someone picks up.
A woman answers. “Hi?”
Great. The perkiness in her voice makes it easy to identify her. The bad day has gotten even worse. “Hi, Elle. Can you please hand the phone over? He’s expecting my call.”
“Yeah, I know. Daddy’s really upset with you.” Her sing-song voice always drives West up the wall, and today’s no exception.
“Please, Elle.” He hates it when she makes him beg. “I’m not playing this game with you today.”
“Oh, you’re no fun anymore. Fine.”
West can hear her talking to a man, even though she’s placed her hand over the phone’s transmitter, and then Bob comes on the line. “West. So glad you took time in your busy schedule to check in with me. We need to talk about the Claire situation.”
“It’s not a situation. We’re fine, no problems here.” West crosses his fingers, hoping that Bob will buy his lies.
“That’s not what I hear, young man. I gave you the simple task of getting her to trust you, and then getting her under your control. It seems so simple. Bennet managed it for years. Other agents have had no problems at all dealing with her. It seemed like you were doing a good job of it at the beginning. Why can’t you handle her now?”
Times like this are exactly why West hates working for the Company. “So she called her family today - big deal. She’s still here at school with me, doing what I tell her to do. We don’t have a problem.”
“It appears we have a bigger problem than I realized, West. You don’t seem to understand what your mission is. You’re supposed to isolate her, make her utterly dependent on you. If she’s still turning to Nathan and Peter Petrelli, then you’re obviously not the center of her world.”
West doesn’t say anything. There’s nothing he can say.
“Get it together, West. You’re becoming one of our biggest failures. Prove to me that you’re in control of that girl. If you can’t, I’m pulling you out of there and you can come back here and someone else will take your place.”
“What else do you want from me? I’ve tried everything I can think of!”
“Well, you’re just going to have to take a heavier hand with her. I’m sure you’ll think of something. Women are easily dealt with - why, look at how we handle Elle. If I can control your sister, then I’m sure you can handle Claire Bennet. Goodnight, West.”
The fact that the phone’s gone dead in his hand doesn’t stop him from responding with, “goodnight, dad.”
- - - - - - - - - -
“I said, no! I’m not going to cut contact with my family, that’s nuts!” Claire yells at him. Her hands are on her hips, and it’s obvious that she’s furious with him. “I’m sorry if you don’t like it, but it’s not your decision.”
West takes a deep breath, trying to think about what his dad would do, and decides to do something completely unlike anything he’s ever done before. He’s almost sick to his stomach when he reaches out and slaps her hard across the cheek. He wants to fall to his knees, apologizing and crying, when she raises her hand to her face and her eyes go wide.
“Sorry’s not good enough, Claire.” It’s like someone else is talking, not him. “It’s not like that hurt you. Now, do we have to go over this again?”
He prays that she walks out on him for good, that he’ll be able to go back home and honestly tell his dad that he’s tried everything. She doesn’t, and he dies a little inside.
Chapter 2