'Clara? Say something,' John pleaded. It had been minutes since he finished recalling the story, and even longer since Clara had stopped speaking. 

Clara looked down, holding her hands in her lap. She didn't know what to say - she didn't know where to begin. Everything she had known about the biggest part of herself had been a lie. 

She hadn't even gotten her powers from her parents. John and Laura weren't even her parents. Her mother had died, and it was only by chance that Clara had lived. 

They had given her the name of her real mother. All this time the truth was carried with her, and she knew nothing of it. 

Clara Bradley. 

It sounded strange in her mind, and she didn't dare say it aloud, too fearful that it would make it so much more real. How could they keep that from her for so long? How did she fall for all of the lies?

'You want me to leave, don't you?' Her father guessed.

Before she even knew what she was doing, she nodded. 

John rose from the chair and slowly made his way to the door. 'Come home soon, Clara,' he said, reaching for the door handle. 'Please, come home. I can't lose you.'

Clara still didn't speak, only listening as the door opened, then fell closed. She looked up, seeing another slip into the room. 'I'm an idiot,' she muttered, her voice hardly a whisper. 

'Clara...' Peter said. 'I had no idea.' 

'You were listening?'

'Sorry.'

She shook her head. Out of all the people that should be apologising to her now, he didn't even make it onto the list. 'How did I not see it?' She asked him, wishing he had the answer. 

'You couldn't've known,' Peter perched gently on the end of the bed. 

'They didn't have powers, Peter.' Clara's voice was so quiet, he didn't think he'd have heard her if not for his super-senses. 'I never even questioned why they didn't use them on missions. And what about S.H.I.E.L.D.? I thought they knew. I thought Fury knew.'

'I don't know, Clara,' he said, his voice filled with a sadness. 

'I'm sorry I left,' she told him, speaking honestly. If she had never left, she never would have had to hear it. Maybe that was a selfish reasoning - but maybe she didn't care if it was. That wasn't the only reason she was sorry, she had to admit. 'It was wrong to leave without telling you.'

'Yeah,' he sighed. 'But you were right; I would have tried to stop you. You deserve to get justice for what happened.'

'Don't do that,' she said, her voice just a little stronger. 'Don't let me off easy because you feel sorry for me.'

'Sorry.'

'And stop apologising,' Clara glared at him. 

'Do you... Do you want to talk about it? About what happened to her? To either of them?' He asked, looking down. 

'I messed everything up, didn't I?' She asked.

'What? Clara, no, of course not,' Peter turned to face her, shaking his head. 'When Mr Stark... I was the same. It's normal for people like us. We have this power, we want to do good with it - we want to make things right. The only difference was you had someone to look for, and I couldn't blame anyone. No one living, anyway. I know how much you're hurting, Clara.'

'I know.'

'Then don't try to act as though you're not,' he told her. 'You can talk to me about this, you know?'

'I know,' she repeated. 'I just... I don't know how.'

Peter nodded gently. 'We can figure that out. And what your dad said - it doesn't change anything.'

'What are you talking about? Of course it-'

'No, Clara. It doesn't change who you are. It doesn't change the fact that your Mom and Dad loved you.' 

'But they lied, Peter, I can't just forget that.'

'I'm not saying you should. I'm just saying; what happened, it happened in the past. We can't change it. You know the truth now, and it might even help you get stronger. I mean, an Infinity Stone is part of you, Clara, an Infinity Stone.' Peter sounded excited at the prospect, Clara raising her eyebrows. 

'Peter...'

'Okay, that's not what I mean,' he shook his head. 'I just mean, this is bad, really bad-'

'Not helping.'

'But there's good in it too! You know where your powers really came from!' He exclaimed, getting up to stand. 'And your parents were protecting you, remember. They lied to protect you. That means something.'

'I guess,' she sniffed. Peter sat back onto the bed, this time beside her, and he pulled Clara into him. She snuggled close, missing doing so. She chuckled lightly, thinking about what had happened on the jet. 'I thought I was dying.'

'You... Huh?' 

'When Simmons told me about the Aether on the phone - I asked Sam what it was and he said no one survived contact with it, other than someone Thor knew - so a God, probably, and I thought that meant I was going to die.'

'Well, I'm glad you didn't.'

'God, me too,' she snorted. The smile drifted from her expression soon after thought. 'It'll be too late to find Karli now. They would have gotten to her already.'

Peter shifted next to her, looking down as Clara draped one arm over his waist. 'Wouldn't that be on the news?' He asked. 'They would have made a big deal out of it, wouldn't they?' 

Clara sat up, realising he was probably right. She held eye contact with him for a long moment. If they hadn't found her, would Clara go back and join them again? Would she bother? It almost felt insubstantial now. Then again, it wasn't insubstantial for the agent that fell in that attack. 'Where's your phone?'

Peter tugged it from his bag pocket. 'Here,' he said handing it to her. 

She gave him a look as he did. 'Really?' She asked him, seeing the crack down the screen. 'Isn't this new?'

'Just look at what you wanted to look at,' he rolled his eyes, nudging her playfully. 

'Google... History...'

'No!' Peter snatched the phone back, in such a hurry Clara almost fell from the bed.

'Joking! I was joking,' she laughed. Peter narrowed his eyes at her, tentatively handing the phone back. 'Right, the Flag Smashers.'

'Well?' Peter asked after she scrolled for a minute.

'Holy shit!' She swore, apologising to Peter after, because it never did feel right swearing in front of him. 'They're still at large.' She frowned. 'They haven't found them.'

'You think they should have by now?'

'I can't see why not, they had a pretty good lead,' she muttered. 'Then again, their lead did die...'

'So? Are you going?' He asked. Clara hesitated, something stopping her. Peter saw the expression, the trouble behind her eyes. 'I just didn't like you feeling as though you couldn't talk to me, Clara.'

She grimaced. 'I should go, right?'

'Nothing's changed.' 

She nodded. 'Yeah, nothing's changed.'

'Nothing's changed except now you have me to help,' Peter added. Clara raised an eyebrow. 'Don't worry, I don't mean I'm coming with you. You should do this yourself. I just mean, I can help from here. And, take your phone this time, please?' 

Clara smiled, nodding gently. 'Are we, you know, good?'

'Yeah, we're good,' Peter pulled her into him again, resting his chin on the top of her head. 'Just talk to me next time, okay? And try and be safe.'

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