Title: "Special"
Author: monimala
Fandom: Heroes
Rating/Classification: PG, Mr. Bennet gen.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. Waffles, wahoo!
Summary: When Claire was a baby, she was perfect. 350 words.
When Claire was a baby, she was perfect. A full head of golden blond curls, the most adorable tiny feet, and a laugh that was Daddy-specific. She was beautiful enough to be a Gerber baby or on the side of diaper boxes and a salesman had even come up to him in the mall once, asking if he'd be interested in his pretty little thing modeling for the children's department at Sear's. He'd had to clench his fists to keep from beating the man to a pulp. To keep from shouting, "She's too special for that."
Over the years, he's had to curb a lot of Claire-related temper impulses. The first time she went on a date, she was thirteen and he drove her to the movies with Bobby Lee Justice and sat three rows behind them the whole time to make sure the little shit didn't try anything. (He didn't.)
He still remembers putting the stuffed brown bear in her crib when she was eight months old. She loved it. Claire and her bear. She never went anywhere without it. Hell, he's surprised she didn't take it along with her and Bobby Lee. But somewhere between eight months and two years, Claire and her bear became one entity…Claire Bear…and he'll never forget the day Claire Bear came flying down the driveway to meet him, toddling on her short little legs. He'd been in Washington or New York or some place like that and she'd been so happy to see her daddy that she'd tangled up in the bear and tumbled the rest of the way.
She cried for almost an hour, inconsolable. She bled for four minutes.
The marks faded before the memories.
Claire is almost a woman now. She's more than perfect. She's extraordinary. Even if her laugh gets to be less and less Daddy-specific with every passing day.
He remembers, with perfect clarity, the weight of her tiny body in his palm. And then he rewinds the tape of her sixth attempt to die to the beginning and he smiles as he watches her hit ground.
November 2, 2006.