Long Time, No See [Claire]

[clairebear]

"You never expected any of what West? That I'd be happy to see you back? That I'd admit I still loved you and never stopped?" she began, looking into his eyes, her own darting from left to right as she thought of what to say next. "You're right the way you left was horrible, and when I agreed to meet you, I thought I could see you and get closure, but I couldn't" she continued feeling more and more confused.

"All I got were a myriad of feelings" she continued. The kiss they had shared was magical, and it was in that moment Claire knew who she really loved. But should she tell West or not? And even if West was the one she really loved, what exactly was she going to do with Sam, because really in a way, she loved him too.

Then she said something, she never thought she would be saying to West Rosen as she flew in his arms with him. "Take me to paradise West, I can't deny the sparks I felt in that kiss, I want to see if those sparks will light the fire" she said as she blushed ever so slightly.

Claire Petrelli Norton, you are going to have to make your mind up, one way or another girl Claire thought to herself.

[west]

"No, Claire. I didn't expect for you to tell me that you still love me. But, I am over the moon that you do" He said to her. They were still flying, nearing Costa Verde now, going to his new home, as he had moved back there now.

"Well, Claire. I have to say it. Yes, you have to decide, and yes, your married to Sam. And of course I want you to choose me. But I will understand if you don't. The way I left..." He said, it hurt him everytime he mentioned it.

Then, she said something, which helped him a lot, the way she said it, felt like the odds were turning in his favor.

"What better paradise then the beach where we first kissed" He said to her, and flew straight there, right in that spot.

"The place you discovered my... scars" He said. "But Claire, I know your dads a good guy, I won't hold it against you at all" he said and smiled at her, putting her on the sand and sitting down himself.

[clairebear]

"Well I'm pleased to hear it, because I'm over the moon you've come back" Claire said sincerely. She would have to tell Sam it was over. She would have no option. She had to choose either Sam or West, the decision should be difficult, it shouldn't be as easy as this she thought. However, it was easy for her. She was going to tell Sam she was sorry, but West had come back into her life and she wanted him.

"I know I have to choose West, I know, and I think I already know who my choice is going to be" Claire replied, not taking her eyes off of his. The beach where they first kissed? Sounded like paradise, but it wasn't quite the paradise she had in mind, but she smiled and agreed with him anyway. "Beach sounds perfect West" she said softly.

She sat on the sand after he landed at the beach, he spoke of his scars and how he wasn't holding it against her, and that her dad was a good man.

"Yeah Noah is a good man West, but he isn't my father, not my biological father anyway, I'm much closer with Nathan these days" Claire said, trying to explain another one of the reasons why she wasn't living in Costa Verde anymore. But what she wanted to know more than anything, was the flame going to be re-ignited between them both or not. The kiss was merely just the spark.

[west]

He seemed to be right, the odds were turning in his favor. By the way she talked, it sounded as if she had almost already made up her mind. And, it sounded like, it was going to be him. He was happy, excited, but, some how, he didn't want to be. He didn't want to end Claire's recent marriage, but, he couldn't help it if she did.

Then, she started talking about how Noah isn't her biological father. He was surprised at this, he was finding this difficult to understand. When he had known her, she didn't want to know her real father. Well, she did, but, she always referred to Noah as "dad". West couldn't really understand how she could just, change it like that.

"How is Noah. Do you reckon he would be glad to see me back?" West asked, half jokingly. Then, he decided to talk to her about her supposed 'real' father, Nathan, still in a joking mood.
"What about Nathan, who do you reckon would win in a flying race? We should set that up one day, quick lap around the Statue of Liberty" He said to her, laughing and leaning back, lying into the sand.

[clairebear]

Of course Claire was going to choose West, she felt terrible for Sam, but she should never have married him in the first place, she knew that now. Sam had always just been a good friend to her like Zach, but Sam had been in her life when West hadn't and their friendship grew from that point on.

Of course talking of Noah has her adoptive father and speaking of Nathan as her biological one, would have confused West, she should have known that. When he'd left Claire was still close to Noah. Okay in many ways she still was close to Noah, but she was just spending more time with Nathan these days.

"Well he isn't so strange at me having boyfriends anymore if that's what you mean, after all, he let me get married, he was given a painting of it happening, makes me wonder if it really was Sam in that picture, and not you" Claire said softly, looking away for a few seconds. "But yeah, last time I saw him he was doing fine" she added.

She shook her head, and laughed slightly, "Oh I don't know about that Nathan is just as good at flying as you are" she said, grinning, "But I don't want to talk about them West" she said, as she turned to face him, looking into his eyes, remembering everything she loved about him in the first place, Sam way to the back of her mind., forgotten, almost like he'd been erased from her memory. Was The Haitian around?

[west]

Claire seemed to like his jokes about Noah and Nathan, he loved her laugh, he just, couldn't get enough of it. When she said Nathan was as good at flying as West was, he just laughed mockingly.

"Surely, he could not take on the great West Rosen" He said to her, laughing. He lay back in the sand again, looking up at her. When she said she didn't want to talk about them, part of West wondered what she had in mind.

"Well, what do you want to talk about, Claire." He said, still lying down. He wondered if she really wanted to be talking at all, and he didn't think she did. Still laying down, he put his arms around her waist and pulled her on top of him, kissing her, hoping that this was what she wanted as much as he did.

As he kissed her, he couldn't help but add something in. "You know, Claire. You always looked mighty hot in that cheerleader outfit." Kissing her, and stoping again. "You wouldn't happen to have those, still, would you?" He said, grinning wildly.

[clairebear]

"Well, when you put it like that West" Claire said joking herself, and laughing. "Then maybe he couldn't" she continued, talking about Nathan being just as good at flying as West was. Only difference being, it was no where near as romantic in Nathan's arms obviously as it was in West's arms.

"I'd rather hope we could talk about ... " but she didn't get to finish her sentence for he had put his arms around her waist and pulled her down on top of him and began kissing her. She kissed him back with just as much passion as he was kissing her, with not even the slightest bit of guilt within her at all. It was almost as if Claire was single again.

Between kissing her, he stopped to ask her questions about her cheerleading outfit. It was funny that she still had her red one and her blue one from both her schools. However she did blush when he said she'd looked hot in them. "Thanks" she said, accepting the compliment. "As a matter of fact I do still have them, can I ask what you have in mind Mr Rosen?" she asked him grinning at him mischievously.

[west]

Claire did like the kissing as much as he did, as she kissed him back with just as much passion. West felt good about this, she didn't seem bothered by it, the fact that she was married, lying in the sand kissing her old boyfriend.

Then, Claire mentioned that she did have the cheerleading outfits, and asked him what he had in mind, while grinning at him. He just grinned back, sitting up a little.

"Well, I was thinking... Ms.Bennett, that, we, shall we say, remember old times. When we were in school, and we couldn't get either of those cheerleading outfits off you" He said, kissing her again.

[clairebear]

Claire had no idea what she was doing. Absolutely no idea what so ever. She was lying on a beach in Costa Verde, kissing her ex boyfriend while she was supposed to be a happily married woman. What was wrong with her? Yet, at the same time, she found she couldn't stop herself.

When he called her Ms. Bennet she didn't even bother, after all technically she was Mrs Norton now, but having him call her Ms. Bennet was less guilty anyway. Was Claire even feeling guilty? She didn't think so. Was that even bad? Probably.

"Oh, so you want me to wear one of them, just so you can take it off of me?" she asked him mischievously and grinning. Well that did sound like a good idea. Guilty or not, she liked where this was heading. "Well what you waiting for Mr. Rosen?" she asked, and then realised, the outfits were at the Bennet's new house in Costa Verde.

"We'll have to go via Bennet's house for me to pick them up and then where to? Can I assume you have your own place here?" she asked him with a grin. If he did, she'd move back here, because with West being able to fly she knew he would take her to see Nathan when ever she wanted. Wait, wasn't she getting ahead of herself just a little?

[west]

He laughed, Claire seemed into the idea. He was actually finding it funny. When she said that he wants to get her into one just so he can get her out of it, he considered this, and figured that, yes, this was true.

"Well, when you put it that way...yes" He said to her, grinning. "That is exactly what I want" He smiled, and kissed her again. Then she asked what he was waiting for, and he had know idea. "Well, nothing. Lets go" He got up.

"You left your cheerleading outfits at the Bennett house?" He said, before lifting her up and flying. She asked him if he had his own place, and yes, yes he did. "You can assume that, Claire, I do" He grinned, flying to the new Bennett house, putting her down.

"Don't be too long" He grinned.

[clairebear]

When West laughed at her reasoning for the cheerleader outfits it made Claire laugh also. When she thought about it, she wasn't sure if she had quite as much fun with Sam as she always had when she had been with West. At that point she did begin to feel slightly guilty. What kind of girl was she? What would people think of her?

However, shaking her head, she found she didn't care what people thought of her. She had loved West with all her heart before he left leaving her stranded and now he had come back into her life like a ray of light, and she knew she still loved him. She loved him as much now as she did back then, and maybe even more.

"I thought that's what you meant" she said and laughed, and kissed him back as he kissed her. Then he said nothing was stopping him, she grinned at him, and watched as he stood up, she did too. "Good then" she replied as he lifted her up and began flying with her to where she'd told him the new Bennet house was.

"Yeah I did, quite a lot of my things are still with the Bennet family" Claire began, "I sort of live between Costa Verde and New York, or at least I had until I married Sam, I just hadn't got the chance to move everything to New York, and well..." she began, trailing off a little, "maybe it's just as well I didn't" she finished, looking into his eyes, his gorgeous face as he flew with her and put her down onto the lawn of the Bennet's house. "Oh and I'm glad you've got your own place" she shouted as she ran into the house which in many ways was still her own.

"Hi dad" she shouted to Noah, as she flew up the stairs and got her cheerleader outfit, both of them, she didn't know which one West liked the best.

"Claire Bear?" Noah said amused to see his daughter run up the stairs, and just as amused as he then watched her run back down them heading to the door.

"Bye dad" she shouted as she flew out the door and back to where West was standing.

"Didn't know which one you liked the best" she said, holding the red and white one in her left hand, the blue one in right hand, "Let's go" she said grinning, as she wrapped her arms around West tightly, waiting for him to take her to his own place, feeling exhilarated to be back with West. Oh how she loved him.

[west]

He asked her not to take long, and, well, she didn't. She just seemed to run in, and go straight upstairs. She didn't really talk to anyone, just got out of there. As she ran back out side with both of her cheerleading outfits, he just laughed.

"Hell Claire, I like them both" He said, lifting her up and flying off. As they flew, he smiled at her. He thought that she wanted to go back to his place, well, she kinda had just said that, so he flew in that direction.

"Its not much" He said to her, referring to his new house in Costa Verde, he had only just got it and didn't have much in there yet. The house wasn't far from the Bennetts, so it wasn't long before they got there.

He walked inside, opening the door for her. "Welcome to my humble abode." he said to her, grinning. He closed the door behind her and walked inside.

[clairebear]

"I had a feeling you might have said that, so I was thinking" Claire said and grinned, followed by a laugh, "I was thinking, I can wear them both, then you have double the pleasure of taking them off me" she added, as she looked into his gorgeous eyes.

Oh, why didn't you come back sooner damn it she said to herself, everything would have been far less complicated than it was now. Now she had to think about Sam, but she didn't want to think about him. It was all so horrible and wrong. No, it wasn't wrong, she loved West too, she always had.

He then flew her to his own place and it didn't take too long, for West, she realised, didn't live too far away from the Bennet's house. He said his home wasn't much, Claire just smiled softly. "Don't worry about that, I'm not going to be interested in the house" Claire said as she walked in after him.

When she was in his place, it didn't look so bad after all. She realised she wouldn't actually mind living here, it was cosy. Nodding her head with approval, she looked at him and grinned, "Well I think it's alright Mr Rosen, but as I said before, I'm hardly interested in the house, and something tells me, neither are you" she added, as she looked around, wondering where the bedroom was.

[west]

When they arrived, she seemed not to be interested in the house, but she did seem to like it. This made West happy, that she actually wasn't disliking his place like he thought she would. But, as she said, she wasn't so interested in the house as she was interested in him.

He laughed when she said this, but it was actually true, when he thought she had been joking.
"The bathroom's right their, Claire" He said, pointing to the bathroom door. "Or would you prefer to just get changed here in front of me" He giggled. "I guess that would defeat the purpose of me wanting to get the clothes off you, cause they will already be off."

As she went into the bathroom, he went into his room and waited for her, to call her name when she came in.


[To Be Continued In The Mature Board]