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[captaincaveman]

Early in the morning, Barry was already at work at CCPD, Claire would be greeted with a knock at her door. Wells, in his classic black attire and black baseball cap to hide his face was standing at her door. He wasn't wearing his glasses and had the collar of his jacket popped to help conceal his face. In one hand he was holding a Jitters carton with two to-go cups of coffee.

Assuming she opened the door, the very first thing he did was raise his free hand in a show of surrender and say, "It's me, Harrison--or Harry, not... you know..."

Comments

[infinite1ups]

They were moving fast, Claire knew, but not that fast. She was pretty sure for now they both had too much going on and outside of that, wanted time to focus on each other.

"My schedule is pretty open now, at least until my dad comes to visit in a few days. I can go to the lab whenever. Barry is excited for me to meet everyone, as far as I can tell." She smiled fondly as she spoke. It was painfully obvious how madly in love she was with Barry whenever she mentioned him.

"And I can answer anything I know about evolved human powers. Peter absorbs powers automatically, but he has to actively use them once he gets control - except for my regeneration. That just happens." Claire blushed again at the second mention of her and Barry having kids, but quickly focused up. "He mentioned the dark matter being a factor. There's another evolved human who can steal abilities by, uh, looking in their brains. I need to know he's not a threat to Metas."

She briefly looked down at her cup, sighing. "He's... My Eobard Thawne, to put it the way I told Barry."

[captaincaveman]

Harry finally sat down at her table. He didn't want to stand there being a tall, gangly, imposing figure in her kitchen. He tapped a finger over his lips as he thought. "Your father is visiting soon. This wouldn't happen to have anything to do with giving him a scare over your own safety, would it? If I found out Jesse was attacked by a Meta as soon as she moved to a new city, I'd be there, guns blazing in an instant."

"Does this Peter just channel them or permanently copy them? If it's just a proximity based channel, it might be fine. If it's a full blown copying power, it might alter his DNA, which is where we'd have the issue with dark matter. Once integrated into someone's DNA, it mutates them into a Meta-human and that's where the Meta powers come from. If his DNA mutates by absorbing dark matter from a Meta, he runs the risk of developing new powers rather than borrowing the Meta's powers he's trying to absorb." Now, the next one, he didn't like the sound of at all. Looking into their brain sounded concerning.

"Your..." He hated those words even more. "Where do you kids find these psychopaths?" Harry sounded irritated, but it wasn't at Claire.

[infinite1ups]

Claire couldn't help but wince at how easily Harry telegraphed that. He really was just like her dad. "Well... yeah. I think the chameleon incident sped up his visit. That, and he probably wants to check Barry out 'cause I haven't shut up about him since we met." It wasn't really like her to be so wrapped up in someone, and Noah knew that better than almost anyone.

"It's permanent. He still heals like me even though we're a thousand miles apart. The other abilities he can channel. The official name for his power is empathic mimicry, so that might give you an idea about how it works. The dark matter is my main concern, I don't know if it'd be dangerous for him to be around a Meta." Presumably there could be Meta-humans in New York. If Peter had been unknowingly in proximity with one, there didn't seem to be any signs of adverse affects. But she wouldn't risk it.

"In my defense, Sylar found me. He got what he wanted, though, so it's not likely he'll come after me again. Except maybe to be a nuisance," she huffed. It was her turn to be a bit of a grump. "But if he's back on his killer bullshit and finds out he has a whole new buffet of powers to choose from? It'd be a nightmare."

[captaincaveman]

"Allen hasn't shut up about you either, so I can see why he'd be concerned there, too." Harry said easily. He never hid the fact that he was frightfully protective and they'd already determined her and her father shared similarities to himself and Jesse. He'd just rely on Barry to be himself in the face of it all. Because it was Barry that had cracked his shell.

"Empathic mimicry. Let's get you to the Lab. Well, finish your coffee first." He really was eager to see how her regeneration held up against a blast of dark matter and if it had any ill effects on her cells. Plus, the longer the STAR Labs van was in the parking lot, the more nervous he felt.

"Let's hope he can't take from Metas then or I'll have to become an expert on Evolved Humans real fast and I'm not sure you want to spend that much time around me."

[infinite1ups]

"I don't know that he's concerned about Barry, so much as curious? He's really never heard me sound this excited about someone I've dated before." Sure, she'd talk about her relationships, but she wasn't one to gush about them until now. Noah was certainly concerned about the Meta-human situation, though.

Claire took a long pull from her coffee and set it down with a soft laugh. "Oh, c'mon. You're not that bad. And heck, I'm just as curious to learn about all this stuff as you are. My dad knows a lot about evolved humans, I'm sure he'd let you pick his brain while he's here. I know he'd like meeting you." And to thank Harry for looking out for Claire, no doubt.

[captaincaveman]

"You're both good kids and from what it sounds like you both need a pick-me-up in life." He wasn't certain about her situation entirely, but if she had her own Thawne, she needed it too.

"I'm insufferable to be around at best." Harry said with a little mischievous smirk. He was egotistical and short tempered. There was a part of him that was convinced that the only reason Team Flash put up with him was because he was brilliant and they needed his wealth of knowledge. But that came from a place of deep self-loathing. Jesse said Team Flash made him happy and she was right. "You'll regret agreeing to spend time with me in the lab after an hour, mark my words." Just ask Cisco. They share a lab space. "I won't pass up the opportunity to work with your father so he can catch me up to speed."

[infinite1ups]

Admittedly, she hadn't been a target of Sylar's in years, but that didn't mean the mental and emotional scars weren't still there. Not to mention the rest of her past that Harry didn't know about. Barry was exactly what she needed, but never would have admitted to needing.

"I don't believe that for a second. Our first meeting wasn't ideal, but even now I don't find you insufferable in the slightest." Claire wasn't convinced that any time in the lab would change her mind on that. The fact that Barry tolerated him said a great deal. As nice as he was, as genuinely good and eager to help? She didn't think he'd want to keep Harry around if he was truly that bad. There was a cheeky grin as she added, "Once you and my dad get together, though... that might be too much Disapproving Dad Energy in one room for me."

[captaincaveman]

To be fair to both her and Barry, most didn't realise just how much darkness Barry put up with either. The two had a lot in common.

"You possess that same irritating penchant for insisting on seeing the good in people." He huffed and took another long drink from his cup. He barely slept most nights, so the man ran on caffeine. Her next comment, though, earned her a stern glare. "Disapproving Dad Energy? Now you definitely sound like my daughter."

His features softened some after that. "How are you feeling after that fight?"

[infinite1ups]

Claire just beamed at the first two comments. "I'll take all of that as a compliment," she said, playfully smug. Harry clearly thought the world of Jesse, so of course it'd feel like Hugh praise to be compared to her.

All those cliches about how opposites attract were thrown out the window when it came to her and Barry. They were just different enough to make things interesting, but at their core, she felt more in tune with him than anyone.

"I'm all healed up, good as new." It was obvious that Claire was touched by his asking, even as she was trying to stay causal about her answer. If Harry and the team at STAR Labs we're meant to help her, though, she needed to be honest. "But, it's... probably gonna keep messing with my head for a while. Nothing has made me that physically vulnerable in a long time."

[captaincaveman]

Harry didn't only think the world of Jesse, she was his world. When Zoom abducted her he couldn't breathe. His world crumbled around him. So it was the highest praise coming from him.

"You heal faster than Allen. I can promise you that, anything that affects you in the future, I will find a cure for." He wouldn't outright say it, but he could heavily imply just how much he cared for the whole team. "So, you're safe with us. And if something happens to me, Snow is brilliant. She'll do the same."

[infinite1ups]

"I've been immune to everything else before. I... experimented a lot." She had a feeling that was going to earn more disapproval, but she'd learned plenty from it, so she had no regrets.

Claire was already thinking of Barry's friends as her own, a new found family on top of the family she already had. Naturally Harry implying he wouldn't be around didn't go over well with her. "Oh, no. Nothing's gonna happen to you. I'm not losing anyone when I just found y'all."

[captaincaveman]

She was right. It earned her another of his patented dad frowns. "Are we talking illicit substances or dangerous substances? Because I'm not going to harp on you for trying weed, but if you started drinking battery acid, you and I are going to have a talk."

Team Flash had a tendency to do that. They were one big found family with two dads. "First of all young lady, this isn't my Earth. I can't stay here forever. I have--" A life? Did he though? Friends who will miss me? Nope. "A lab to run back on my Earth. And if that's not enough, I'm one of the few humans on the team with a pretty large target on my back thanks to Thawne." He knew he wasn't invincible. Sure, he wasn't an easy target, just because he was a pretty skilled marksman and he didn't go anywhere without the pulse rifle. But throw someone with powers at him to catch him off guard, and he was just as easily killable as the next rando on the street. If Barry hadn't been there the first time Joe saw him, he'd have three bullets in his chest, just because the detective thought he was Thawne. Caitlin and Jay saved his life when Patty shot him in the heart because she thought he was Thawne. Grey nearly beat him to death because he thought he was Thawne. There's a pattern here.

[infinite1ups]

"More illicit than dangerous. Definitely not battery acid, sheesh. It was harder to get ahold of poisons than I expected." Yes, Claire did sound disappointed that she couldn't easily poison herself. "Sadly, my pot brownies had no effect. However, I did learn that I'm immune to being roofied!" The latter she discovered outside of her experiments, but she wasn't going to mention that part.

At least one more dad was on his way. And now Harry was hitting her with the young lady. She almost giggled out of pure affection, but held it in at the last moment. "Okay, your Earth, that's fine. I'll just have to put a bigger target on myself, then."

[captaincaveman]

That look just got worse at the mention of poisons. "I'm going to be silently grateful you don't have my chemistry degree." Because it would have been easier for her to make something poisonous from household cleaners than to buy anything. Hell, mustard gas was made in sinks all the time by accident just washing dishes. "But I am glad to hear you can't be roofied. That's one thing I don't have to worry about with you or my daughter." Hey, did he mention Jesse was a Meta?

"Uh, no. That's not how this works." His reply was quick and firm. "I'll not have any of you taking blows meant for me, regardless of whether they're actually meant for Thawne. I created the Metas on my Earth, so I'm just as responsible as he is." Sure sounded like someone thought he deserved the beatings he took. "You are all good kids. You don't deserve this burden."

[infinite1ups]

"I could've tried harder, but I didn't want to just try any random poisonous substance. I was trying to think of things I might actually be attacked with," she explained, shrugging. "The illicit stuff, well. That was more just to see what would happen. I wanted to feel something."

She wasn't completely without a sense of touch, but her general state of being was pretty much the same all the time. Even a moment of intoxication would've been interesting.

"No can do. Absorbing damage is the one thing I'm actually good at." Which was, of course, not at all the truth, but it was how Claire saw herself most of the time. "There's no point in me having this if I don't use it to protect people, especially people I care about it."

[captaincaveman]

"If you're still looking to feel something, there are safer ways to go about it." Harry scrubbed a hand through his hair in mild frustration. How did he get caught up in these situations where he cared about reckless kids?

"I swear if I hear that excuse from one more of you kids, I'm gonna--!" He hit the table with an exasperated sigh. This was the point where, if they were in his lab, he'd have thrown something across the room. But they weren't. And he wasn't going to throw his coffee. "You, Allen, and my daughter are too eager to throw yourselves into danger just because you have powers." He growled. "Besides, how can you care about me? You don't know me." Pot, kettle, Wells.

[infinite1ups]

No matter how well Claire healed physically, the scars under the surface went deep, So her startle response was stronger than she would have preferred. She jumped a little when Harry hit the table, and now it was her turn for a disapproving frown.

"I can't run fast or use lightning, can't move things with my mind. But I can take a hit. I can take a lot of hits." She could hold her own in a brawl, as she proved with Leonard Snart, and she was a decent shot, but with the people she'd been up against, the people they were going to be up against, that wouldn't be enough. "There are people who should be here, but they're not, because they died to protect me. I owe it to them."

Claire sat up straighter in her chair, more focused and less relaxed. "If I can fall in love with Barry in practically no time flat, I can care about you just as fast."

[captaincaveman]

When she jumped, he actually looked guilty, averting his gaze. He pulled off his glasses to clean them so he could busy himself with something other than feeling like an asshole for making her jump.

"Look." He began, softer. "I don't want you taking hits for me. I'm not worth it. If you somehow get hurt because of me, how is that a fair trade? Those people wouldn't want you to throw your life away for someone like me."

Harry sighed and put his glasses back on. "Allen isn't a similar case. When I first arrived here, I had planned to do whatever it took to get my daughter back, and that included betray Allen. And yet as much as I love my daughter, as far as I was willing to go to save her, Allen has this way about him. He makes you care. I couldn't go through with it knowing I'd be trading Allen's life for Jesse's."

[infinite1ups]

"You really are so much like my dad." It was all she could say after hearing that. The list of people Noah Bennet would've thrown into the fire to keep Claire safe was longer than even she knew.

"If I'm gonna be around you guys, it's gonna happen one way or another. whether I take it on purpose or not. I know the danger I'm in, being with Barry. I know it's not just Thawne. I'm choosing to stay and protect the life I want, not throwing it away, no matter what happens."

[captaincaveman]

"I can't tell if that's a compliment to me or an insult to your father." Harry both thought very highly of himself but also thought of himself as a horrible person. It only got worse when his daughter found out what he'd done to save her and she'd called him a monster, no better than Zoom.

He finished his coffee, lamenting its loss already. "I'm not telling you to run from this life you want to build. Just be wary. Please." He didn't want the survivor's guilt.

[infinite1ups]

"It's a compliment." Harry seemed... more angry than her father, at least outwardly. She was sure Noah held onto a lot of emotions that he wasn't as open to sharing with her, including anger. He always tried to spare her from feeling any guilt about the consequences for any decisions he made for her protection. That was his to bear, he'd told her time and again.

"This is me being more careful. Take Thawne, for example. In the past I would've wanted to take the fight to him, and I would've tried to. I learned my lesson; I know I'm better on defense." But that didn't mean she wasn't wiling to fight and sacrifice. After the chameleon, she understood the stakes were even higher. Maybe she couldn't be killed, but she could be weakened.

She finished her own coffee and then got up to take care of both of the cups.

[captaincaveman]

Harry had some anger issues to work out, for sure. But he was a lot of bark and less bite in most cases. Even when he threw things across the room. He had tried to shield Jesse from the actions he'd taken to save her, but she'd found his audio logs that he'd recorded in the event of his death.

At that, he looked alarmed, even though she said she wouldn't. "Do not go after that man. He's too dangerous, Bennet. I've seen what he can do, first hand and he'll get in your head."

Thawne was a can of worms they were going to have to deal with eventually, but not yet. For now, he stood up when she did and straightened out his jacket. "To STAR Labs, then? Introduce you to Ramon and Snow."

[infinite1ups]

"I know. I'm not going to." Mostly because she'd promised Barry. Otherwise she might have wanted to try... something. Anything. She hated feeling helpless, waiting around for her enemies to make the next move.

Not that Thawne knew he was her enemy yet. Though he'd know something was up sooner rather than later, when he realized she wasn't returning his calls or texts.

Claire nodded, grabbing her hoodie from where it was hanging by the door and shrugging it on. She had everything she needed already. "Let's go. I take it I'm riding with you? I'm assuming you drove here."

[captaincaveman]

Even if they wanted to, Thawne wasn't someone who could just be hunted down. He didn't stay in one place long or one time period. Unless he was locked down like he had been after killing Nora Allen. He'd lost his speed and had been stuck in place. And even though Thawne could feel other Speed Force users when they used their speed, Barry couldn't feel Thawne. Something about the Negative Speed Force shielded him.

Harry popped his collar up again and slipped his glasses back into his pocket. "Well, I didn't come via Speedster Express." He quipped. "But if you'd feel safer driving yourself after how we first met, I take no offence." It was said with a wry smirk.

[infinite1ups]

She huffed a laugh as she led them out, making sure the door was locked after them and that she had her key to get back in. Her bus was safely parked in the garage owned by the apartment's landlord. It was a low-rise kind of building, but more on the high end of things, that had seemingly - almost mysteriously - come under new management just before Claire moved in.

"Nah, forecast said it might rain. Think I'll keep Penny dry today." And, she was quick to add, "That accident wasn't your fault."