Baby I've been here before/I've seen this room & I've walked this floor -For <lj site="livejournal.c

[changehistory]

Everything always came back around, in the end, Adam thought. He'd left London after the end of the War, making his way back to America, to Los Angeles that time, to a wife who'd betrayed him and reminded him just how much he'd lost through the years. After her, there had been a time of hope, though, when he finally found those like himself, found a way to maybe build a new home, a place for himself in the world where he didn't have to hide.

But it had all gone to Hell as quickly as so many other good things in his life had, and the last few decades had been nothing but betrayal and pain and loss.

So, he'd returned to the place where it all began, the birthplace he'd only rarely let be home after he fled the first time all was lost. Maybe it would be different this time. Maybe not. But if nothing else, no one would think to look for him here. He'd watched as things imploded in America, kept informed in that way he always had managed by people he still knew, and didn't look back. They'd made their beds, let them lie in them. He'd gotten out with his skin intact, and he wasn't going back to risk losing it, not for any of them, not after what they'd done.

Why save those who wouldn't save you, or who didn't truly want to be saved?

He bought a townhouse, settled into the anonymity of the city, moving into the rhythms of it, but found his feet tracing old paths past buildings that held nothing but ghosts overlay whatever had moved in and tried to oust him. God, but why he bothered, he didn't know. Maybe he should have gone to Australia, instead. That would have been new.

Still, slowly he found a place for himself, sort of. He found a pub he liked, and musicians to play with now and again, and caught up on theatre and film and television and books and music he had missed, and busied himself with acquainting himself with life in the 21st century, and time passed.

It was raining today, a cold rain where you wanted to curl up by the fire with a book and a whiskey and someone or something to pet, but since the cat was hiding under the bed, and Adam found himself down at the corner pub instead, nursing a pint at the bar, watching a football match and chatting with a couple of the locals who'd braved the weather instead. It was all so very normal, he had no idea what to do with himself, but he assured himself it was the waiting period, the calm before the storm. He'd come up with something else, some other plan, some other way to move forward.

He just needed to get his feet back under him first, and then everything would be fine. A sign would come along, and he'd know it, and then he'd be back.

Comments

[coed-claire.livejournal.com]

Claire needed a vacation. It was as simple as that. She breather, a break from things. And with Sylar dead, well, it seemed the perfect time. She hadn't really planned on going out of country, though. That was Angela's idea.

She and Peter had been discussing it, and Angela had heard. Her grandmother had insisted that she get out, explore the world a little. Claire had suggested backpacking through Europe. Angela had looked at her like she'd grown a second head.

Finally, they'd settled on London. She'd spend time in London until it was time to come back and start college. Angela had friends whose granddaughters would be doing the same thing, so she'd join them. Claire was less than thrilled at this idea, but hey, it equaled a free hotel, so how could she say no?

Except here she was, in a bar, no, excuse her, pub, with these friends. She hadn't wanted to go out at all, since it was raining. She'd wanted to stay in and read, or visit a nice indoor place. But since she'd admitted to not having a drink in her life, they had insisted on taking her out.

Mexico didn't count as having drinks, really.

"I really..."

"Oh, come on, Claire!" one said. Alice, maybe. She still wasn't sure. "Have a drink, it'll be fun."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

The American voices drew Adam's attention, especially given that he was brooding on the whole implosion there. At first, he just looked annoyed. This was his pub, not some place for tourist teenagers to invade, but he caught the name of the one girl long enough to make him at least glance over. It wasn't that "Claire" was an unusual name, of course, but given where his thoughts were...

He stared. When Peter had mentioned her as they talked, he'd been intrigued. Nearly four hundred years, and he'd never met anyone else like him. He'd taken it upon himself to find her file and get a picture, to know what she looked like, to maybe look her up some day. He hadn't expected it to be like this.

Of all the pubs in all the world, she had to come walking into the one he'd claimed as his. His eyes flicked behind her, half looking to make sure she wasn't accompanied by Peter or Nathan or Angela, in which case things could get ugly, but, no, just the girls. Huh. That was a blessing at least.

He took a longer sip of his lager, watching her curiously and not really bothering to hide it.

[coed-claire.livejournal.com]

She didn't notice him at first, but she got the feeling someone was watching her. Hiding and running gives you a sixth sense about those sort of things. When she finally glanced over at him, she was a little surprised by his look. Claire might have been pretty, but that wasn't quite the look he was giving her.

Claire tried to ignore it as her friends gave her a drink, and then another, each one burning as it went down. Finally, curiosity getting the better of her, she decided just to go ask him. It was a pub, so nothing too bad could happen. Right?

"What's so interesting about me?"

Of course, she didn't know anything about him, or else she might not have approached him, but that was beside the point.

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Answering direct questions was not something Adam did unless pinned down. It was so much better to ignore them, to ask questions of your own, to keep the other person off balance. It gave you the edge. It had gotten Peter all the way to that vault door without him ever having to outright lie, after all.

So, he gave Claire a charming smile and lifted his pint to her slightly, looking amused.

His voice was low as he spoke, careful, not something anyone else could hear, especially over the other conversations and the television. "Do you know how to act drunk if they keep giving you drinks, so they don't get suspicious about how a tiny thing like you has such an amazing alcohol tolerance?"

[coed-claire.livejournal.com]

Claire was so surprised by his question that she wouldn't have been surprised if she'd physically balked. The implications were clear: he knew about her, about her ability. He shouldn't have known. But he not only knew her ability, he knew a detail of it, one that wouldn't be known without research. And that posed a threat.

"Who are you?" She was in defensive mode now

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

Adam smirked, just slightly, giving her a bit of a look that was impossible to interpret and for once, he answered the question, at least somewhat.

"My name is Adam. I'm like you. Or, well, rather, I suppose, you're like me, since I've been around a bit longer. Buy you a drink?"

[coed-claire.livejournal.com]

Claire was a little annoyed by the smirk, but she had to admit that she kind of liked it too. She briefly wondered what a full-blown smirk would look like, but quickly pushed the idea from her head.

"So do you know about me, or just my ability?"

Like you could mean a lot of things when you were special, but the way he said it made her think he meant her ability and not her. She could be completely wrong, though. She didn't claim to be the best at reading people.

"You know the drink won't do any good," Claire said, letting her amusement color her voice. "But sure."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

Adam waved to the empty seat next to him and signaled to the bartender to get her another of whatever she'd been drinking with her friends. He got a fresh one for himself, as well, and took a sip of it, regarding her before launching into a summation of what he knew.

"Claire Bennet, daughter of Nathan Petrelli and Meredith Gordon, adopted and raised by Noah and Sandra Bennet in Odessa, Texas, where Mr. Bennet worked for Primatech Paper which was founded in 1963 and was not actually a paper company at all." He should know, since he'd been a part of founding it, but this wasn't about him. "Niece to one Peter Petrelli, who's adorably earnest but has a bit of a hero complex that's going to get him in a great deal of trouble or killed one day if he's not careful. Granddaughter to Angela Petrelli, who tried to get her youngest son to blow up New York so her eldest could become President and save the world which never was going to work, but she really did have her heart in the right place, at least once upon a time, before the world trammeled it." He took another sip. "Oh, and there was something in there somewhere I heard a very, very long time ago about 'save the cheerleader, save the world' and I gather that meant you, though I've honestly no idea at all how you were supposed to do that. Hiro was fuzzy on the details of your place in the grand scheme of things, since, really, it seems Nathan did that all on his own, from how Peter tells the story."

He gave her a brightly charming smile. "That, I'm afraid, is about all I know, beyond the fact that you're the only other person like us I've even heard of in my life."

[coed-claire.livejournal.com]

If Claire had actually been drinking, she would have choked on it or spit it out. She knew she would have. Hearing how much this man knew was disturbing, not to mention a little bit of a problem if he wanted to use it against her. How could he know so much and she know nothing about him? And, too, it was odd hearing her life and family summed up so neatly and snarkily. All true, of course, every word he said, but she hated to admit that.

She tried to calm down and look at it logically, not wanting to cause a scene. From how Peter tells the story. Peter had told him. They'd met. Funny how Adam had never been mentioned to her before, but Peter had evidently told Adam all about her. Or somebody had.

"So, since you know all about me, why don't you tell me about yourself?" She really wanted to ask how he knew Peter, but she decided that he was more interesting. And arrogant.

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

Adam shrugged slightly. "Oh, there's nothing much to tell," he demurred. "I was born here in London, left a long time ago, wandered the world, met Hiro Nakamura who told me I had a great destiny as a hero, got tangled up with the Company, got disillusioned with them and their practices, had them turn on me, helped Peter escape from them after Kirby Plaza, healed Nathan from his burns, nearly got myself killed by your grandfather but got away, decided enough was enough and came home."

It was a radical summing up, condensing centuries into a few phrases, but every word of it was true, at least, and it hit the parts of his life that intersected with hers, he figured, and cast him in a pretty good light. He'd helped her uncle, saved her father, escaped the bad guys--all technically true.

Adam took another sip of his drink.

[coed-claire.livejournal.com]

Okay. That sort of answered why Peter liked him. He didn't see that bad. He'd healed Nathan like she'd saved Noah. That earned brownie points. The Company was bad; she didn't know much about it, but she knew that much. And she'd heard enough about her grandfather to know he was a bad man.

Claire took a sip of her drink, allowing it to go to her head for a second. It was all surreal. How could this man who knew so many people in her life have escaped her notice?

"I see. Nobody's ever mentioned you to me. Why is that, if you were so involved with people in my life?"

There was still something that was a little off, something missing, but she didn't know what it was.

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

Adam shrugged as if he had no idea, though he attempted to explain, a little frown furrowing his brow.

"Well, Nathan never knew I saved him. Peter and I were on the run from the Company and only had enough time to give him my blood--we had to leave before he woke. He may not know, even now. I never met your father--Bennet, though I knew his reputation inside the Company. Hiro and I, unfortunately, had a bit of a falling out over a girl." He gave her a rueful smile, then shook his head, managing to look a little confused. "I don't know why Peter never mentioned me. We spent several months together. But...from what I've heard, it's been somewhat mad for all of you lately. Perhaps he just hasn't had time to think about catching up?"

For which Adam was terribly grateful. Peter was probably more than a little bit pissed at him at the moment.

[coed-claire.livejournal.com]

"We've all been a little distracted lately." She admitted.

He made it all sound so simple. A reason for everything. And he was very convincing. A part of her wanted to be suspicious, but another wanted to accept him as a good guy and leave it. She'd never heard of him, but there were valid reasons. Nobody told her anything, anyway.

"I've never exactly been in the loop." Except when she found or overheard something she wasn't supposed to. "You had a fight over a girl?" She was a bit amused by this, because she thought it was ridiculous. But then, she didn't have much experience in dating or anything of the sort, so she really couldn't judge.

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"I know, ridiculous sounding, isn't it?" He rolled his eyes a bit, his smile suggesting how could any girl possibly have chosen Hiro over him, but with good humor rather than superior arrogance. "It was a long time ago, for me at least, but I'm sorry to admit I acted with bad grace, and he acted without honor, and we've never put it behind us." See, he wasn't perfect, and he could admit to faults. He'd learned that worked well at setting people at ease, too.

Adam shrugged. "I'm mostly out of the loop now, myself. I have a couple of people who send me information now and then, and I heard how bad it got there for a while, but it seems like things are back to normal, at least, now?"

[coed-claire.livejournal.com]

Hiro was dorky but cute, a definite good guy. But Hiro wasn't really the type that appealed to her. Adam, however...he was all British charm with a hint of hero, and she liked that. And he could admit his own faults, which was a very admirable quality. Not many could do that. Including her father. Well, fathers, really. She could hardly imagine Hiro acting without honor, but a girl could do strange things to a guy, so she'd been told.

"I hope they are," she said earnestly. She hated to think that things were bad back home, but it seemed they'd just settled down. "My father..." Claire shook her head. "People try to do the right thing, but it backfires."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

Adam nodded, look turning serious. "More often than not, I'm afraid," he agreed. "Really...it's hard to know what the right thing is, especially when you live in a world like ours and are surrounded by those blessed--or cursed--with the gift of prophecy. Humanity in general struggles with questions of right and wrong. When you layer questions of destiny and the fate of the world on top of it...how is anyone to know, for certain?"

He ran a finger around the rim of his glass, looking glum for a moment, then glanced at her. "What brings you to London?"

[coed-claire.livejournal.com]

And he was deep? After the thing with Nathan, she'd been questioning a lot, and she could hear those questions echoed in his words, directly or indirectly. And the way he spoke...there was just something to him.

Claire finished her drink and looked at him, trying to decide how to answer. "I'm here with friends." Not an outright lie, but they weren't exactly friends in the true sense of the word. For some reason it made her feel childish to admit that she was vacationing before college.

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

Adam smiled again, this time pushing back the melancholy he'd let settle. "London's a good city to see with friends," he allowed. "How long are you here for?"

Long enough to get to know her, he hoped, he let his eyes say, a flicker of hope in them that wasn't entirely feigned. She was like him. That in and of itself was fascinating. That she was connected, intimately, to the Petrellis? That just made it all the sweeter.

[coed-claire.livejournal.com]

"Until school starts." Which meant a couple of months still. She liked his smile. It wasn't cute, it was sexy. There were other people she would have liked to have seen London with, but she didn't say so. She refused to complain.

"So you know the city well?" Was she hoping for a more personal tour of the city? Maybe. Anybody could see the sights, but to really get to know the city...that would be interesting.

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

Adam nodded, giving her another slow smile. "Born and bred here, though I haven't been back in a while. It's changed, even since the last time I was here, but the historical places are, of course, where they always were, and I've been learning the new places of interest, myself."

He watched her for a moment, one finger tapping on his lower lip. "I could show you around sometime, if you like. Even the best of friends need some time apart." He cast a glance over her shoulder toward the girls she'd come in with.

[coed-claire.livejournal.com]

"They're not exactly best friends." Was there slight bitterness in her voice? She couldn't help it. The more she learned about him, the more she wanted to spend time with him. The girls were boring and vain, as she'd expected they would be.

"Speaking of." She glanced toward them. "They're either going to shove us in a room together or drag me away if I don't report back soon. But I wouldn't mind you showing me around, if you wanted to. I think it'd be nice."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

Adam's smirk flashed a little bit again, glancing back at the girls, catching the note of bitterness in her voice. How very, very interesting.

"Shoving in a room wouldn't be all that bad, but I won't insult you with the implication you're that kind of girl," he said with a flash of a smile that bordered on teasing. He reached for one of the coasters on the bar and jotted down a number. "This is my number. Give me a call when you can ditch the entourage, and I'll show you the town." And maybe more, his eyes said, but his smile stayed mostly innocent.

[coed-claire.livejournal.com]

He was flirting with her. Very subtly, which she appreciated, but he was flirting with her. She might not have recognized it except for the look in his eyes. And the grin was hard to miss, but mostly the eyes.

"Very smart move," Claire said. Smooth. He was so smooth. She'd never met anyone like him. She wanted to give him the hotel she was staying in and the room number, but that would imply she was that kind of girl, and she wasn't. She'd never gotten far past kissing, truth be told.

"I will," she said, smiling. Oh, she wanted to do more, she knew she did. She wanted to say more. But she was also weary of rushing into things.

There was the very distinct possibility, however, that he could literally talk the pants right off her.

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"I've been doing this for a while," Adam said, amused, watching the flicker in her eyes, the chance of maybe that was in them. This, he was pretty certain, was going to be fun. He snagged her hand and lifted it to his lips in a gallant gesture that had been in style centuries before.

"I'll be anxious to hear from you," he murmured, letting her hand go and settling back in his chair while never taking his eyes off of her. She was a pretty little thing, though she didn't look at all like her father's side of the family. Maybe that was a blessing, in some ways. He wouldn't have to remember the rest of them every time he looked at her, which would be a much better basis to get to know someone on.

[coed-claire.livejournal.com]

"Apparently," was all she had time to say before he kissed her hand. He actually kissed her hand and she swore her heart stopped. Who did this? They should never have stopped doing it, though. It was entirely romantic and it felt nice.

Wait, romantic? Get it together, Claire.

"I won't keep you waiting." That counted as flirting back, surely. She sucked at this.

As much as she tried to ignore it, she still heard the giggling behind her, and a very mocking laugh from one of the girls. Normally she wouldn't care, but right then it bothered her.

"Excuse me." Claire gave him her best smile and walked back to the girls, anger visible on her face. She told off the girl who'd laughed, leaving them in something of a stunned silence. She'd make it up later.

"Sorry." She hadn't been that mean, really. "It was a pleasure to meet you."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

Adam felt a little thrill of success with the return of her flirting, no matter how innocently awkward. Her very innocence was itself a thrill. It had been a while since he'd been around anyone who was such a potentially fresh slate, and he had to bite back the smirk.

He watched her turn back to her friends, listened as she told them off, amused and impressed by the flare of anger, able to appreciate it, even if it was milder than his own, really. He was capable of so much darker, so much more, but she had fire, and he liked that. He could work with that.

Shaking his head, he gave her a smile that said he didn't mind. "Never apologize. It was a pleasure to meet you, as well, Claire. I look forward to seeing you again soon."

[coed-claire.livejournal.com]

"I look forward to seeing you too." Or was that seeing more of you? He was interesting, unlike anybody she'd met, and she was curious about him. Eager to learn more. Which was a danger thing for her, because she usually didn't stop once she started something, once she set her mind to it. She'd definitely inherited the Petrelli stubbornness.

Her friends were already tipsy, having drunk more in her absence, but she managed to insist they go back to the hotel before something bad happened.

Now it was a matter of knowing when to call him back. Wait a day or two? A week? She'd go with her gut, but she had a feeling she wouldn't be able to wait that long.

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

Adam watched her go with an amused look on his face, then finished off his beer, paying his tab. He was tempted to follow behind the girls, find out where she was staying, but he behaved himself, switching his steps to wander back toward his townhouse instead.

She'd call. It was just a question of when. He rather hoped it was sooner rather than later.