Title: Not Quite Goodbye
Author: Elisabeth
Rating: G
Fandom: Heroes
Pairing/Characters: Claire, the Haitian
Summary: My explanation for why the Haitian wasn't around the last few episodes.
Spoilers: "Landslide"
Disclaimer: I claim no ownership over these characters. I am merely borrowing them from Tim Kring et al.
Thanks to KallieRose for the beta.
Feedback: Yes please! It makes me happy and keeps me writing.
Not Quite Goodbye
Claire felt eyes on her as she packed her suitcase. To be accurate, it was the suitcase her new grandmother had given her, and it was being packed with the new clothes her grandmother had purchased for her. None of it was truly hers.
She turned to the partially opened door of the room she was staying in to see who was watching her. She smiled upon seeing him, then turned back to her packing.
"Come to say goodbye?" she asked him.
"Yes," his accented voice acknowledged, "and no."
"You never can give a straight answer, can you?" Claire asked, turning back to the Haitian.
He smiled knowingly. "Yes, I have come to say goodbye, but not for the trip you are about to take. I have come to say goodbye for my own."
"You're going somewhere?" Claire asked in disbelief. "You aren't going to try to save the world?"
He shook his head. "It would not be wise for me to try to help."
"Don't you care?"
"Of course I do. Be reasonable. I would not be able to assist Peter in this fight. Nor anyone else with abilities."
"Why not?"
He gave her a pointed look. "You know what it is that I do, Claire. I can remove people's memories or block their abilities completely. How is that useful in a fight?"
Claire sat down, still holding the blouse she had been folding to pack. "I guess I hadn't thought about that." She looked up at him. "So where are you going?"
"I am headed to Paris."
"You're going to France too?" Claire's face lit up with this news. "Why didn't my grandmother tell me you were going too?"
"She probably did not want you to think I went as your bodyguard. You've made your feelings on being treated as someone who needs protection quite clear."
Claire blushed. "Yeah, I guess I have. Is that why you're going? To protect me?"
"Yes," he told her.
"Then why did you come up here to say goodbye if you're going with us?" Claire asked.
"I am to take an earlier flight and prepare the house for your arrival."
"Oh, okay. I guess I'll see you soon, then," Claire said.
"Until then," the Haitian promised before leaving Claire to finish her packing.
The End
Copyright© May 2007