for couples_therapy: it's for you

He wasn't sure where the flower had come from, the only living thing in the woods beyond the half-grown Evergreen trees they had come for, but he had the sneaking suspicion that Samuel had something to do with it. He couldn't say how exactly, aware of what the barker could do and knowing keeping something so fragile alive didn't exactly fall under terrakinesis, but how else could it have survived? The ground was frozen, a thin layer of frost blanketing what remained of the grass and the trees, and yet there it was, bright red petals reaching up towards the dark sky like a woman in prayer.

Regardless of the hows and whys, though, he moved over to it mutely, shooting a glance over his shoulder. Claire hadn't noticed it or him, too busy trying to find a tree that would work for them, for Christmas, and he smiled slyly, turning back to the flower with a plan in mind.

He murmured an apology to the flower -- silly, maybe, but he felt like a vandal, somehow -- and pulled it out of the ground. He looked down at it in his hands, thumb brushing lightly over the petals and mindful of the thorns, pushing dirt away, and then he was tucking it carefully into the flannel folds of his overshirt. He patted the space where it rested over his heart, making sure it wouldn't fall out while he walked, and turned back to Claire.

"Find anything?"

"Yeah," she called back, pointing to a tiny tree that would, hopefully, fit somewhere in the trailer. "What do you think of this one?"

"It's good," he said, moving to join her. And after a moment of the two of them studying it in silence, he knelt down next to it, pulling it free of the ground with grunt.

( She nibbled at her lower lip briefly. "I guess we should have brought a shovel, huh?" )

Muse: Gabriel Gray (Sylar)
Fandom: Heroes
Word Count: 831
Note: Claire is its_notluck and is used with love and permission. ♥