Sylar stood outside the window and gazed in at the girl and her friend, they looked like they were having a great time laughing and it made him smile. He was so sorry for what he did to her, he really was and it had made him feel worse when she had accepted his apology. He can't imagine how scared Claire was the day he broke into her house and carved the top of her head to play around with her brain. He would regret it until the day he died, which would be never.
He watched her take the ice cream out of the freezer and grab two spoons from the draw, before she bound to the sofa and threw the spoon at the brunette getting comfy on the leather couch. He knew he was intruding just by watching but he had to have a listen to.
"oh please, you checked out his ass when he turned away, and as soon as you were on top of that pyramid he stood just close enough he could see your ass to!" Claire managed to spit out in fits of laughter.
The brunette tried to defend herself "well at least I don't have to hid behind my bio textbook every time a boy comes to say hi, you won't even look your lab partner in the eye and you and I both know that max would rather be sat next to Jake Humphries than you" the brunette made silly wink faces, till the girls doubled over in fit of hysterics. He knew the reason for that, she would try not to attract attention to herself but by doing so she would draw all the attention in the world.
He smiled as Claire finally looked comfortable with her new friend and he could see the anxiety lift from her face the more she got to know the girl, Bennett had told him that his little girl was so terrified that every person she met was working with the company she had become a recluse, barely leaving the house even just to go with Sandra to the see Mr. muggles latest show. That's why Bennett had asked Sylar (even if he didn't trust him) to watch over the girl, when he couldn't and especially when Bennett had convinced her to go to school. The company wanted Claire. Badly. Even more so after they witnessed what her blood could do. He knew they would do a lot worse to her than they had to him, he was the monster but he was lucky, the worst he got was a concrete cell, a cocktail of drugs and a few innocents to kill. She would be tortured, and poked and prodded and burned and electrocuted and cut and poisoned and drained of her blood, then have to endure it all over again.
He'd got distracted and didn't notice the brunette pulling a scary looking sedation needle out of her bag at least that what he hoped it was, Claire was busy in the kitchen making something. Just then he noticed the black van driving up the street, he knew he had to get out of view, but he couldn't just leave Claire. He took a running jump at the back gate and got to the back door when he heard an almighty crash. He kicked in the door, just in time to see Claire being flung across the room by the brunette; she hit the fireplace and fell to the ground, the brunette went for her again this time dragging her by the hair to the needle she must have dropped in the fight, Claire grabbed the girls hands and pulled her forward straight over the blondes head and to the floor giving Claire the upper hand. Claire grabbed a heavy looking ornament off the mantelpiece and went for a home run on the girl's head, when the ornament flew out of her hand and hit her in the face. A large 6ft man walked forward threw the drowsy blonde over his shoulder and went straight for the door.
That spurred Sylar into action He threw all the lightning he could at the man, he didn't care if he killed him, and he and the blonde tumbled to the ground in a heap, but it didn't stop the man for long, he shook off the electrocution turned on his heels and gave Sylar a "I find murder fun" kind of look. That's when Sylar own hand stopped ignoring its command to kill the man and turned on himself, electrical charge started running through his palm almost when it was too late the man clutched his thigh and looked down to see the contents of the needle emptying into his leg, he reached for Claire.
"You little bitch" he shouted but before he could do any damage he started to fall, almost straight on top of Claire if she hadn't have scrambled out of the way.
She stood up breathing heavily, sighed, grabbed the duct tape from the side table and walked over to the girl. She peeled it off and started to wrap the roll round and around the girl's ankles and then her wrists. He walked over slowly as not to startle her, although he was sure she already knew he was there. He rested his large hands over her small ones to stop their frantic movements.
"let me." He said in his most soothing voice.
She fell back onto up butt and tucked her knees up and hugged them close to her chest and rocked slowly. He finished securing the girl and it was only a matter of time before she woke up, he stood up and walked outside to call Bennett, he would want to know as soon as possible. When he walked back into the house he saw Claire sitting with her back against the wood panelling of the stairs, a gun clutched to her chest, she wasn't crying.
He walked over and sat down in front of her; he looked into her sad eyes and reached to take the gun from her hands that were turning whiter by the second as she held it so tightly. She gave it up but not easily, he set it down next to him. He put both of his hands on her shoulders and said "you're ok, nothing bad can happen while I'm here" he didn't mean it of course, not in the slightest, but he was trying his best at being comforting and that wasn't really his thing.
She reached forward and wrapped both of her arms around him; he wrapped his arms around her too. After a while her cheek brushed his and he could feel the dampness from her tears, he pulled her onto his lap and just sat there with her crying for a while until eventually her sniffles softened and her breathing slowed. He picked her up and carried her up the stairs to her room, he lay her down on her bed, pulled a blanket over her and let her sniffle alone for awhile. He bound down the stairs, to find the brunette stirring and muttering something about a headache.
Just then Bennett walked looking worried and stern, they shared a mutual nod and in came Bennett cleanup crew who grabbed the girl and dragged her outside kicking and screaming, Bennett ran up the stairs and burst into to Claire's room. It was then that Sylar realised he could never truly be a part of Claire's life; he would just remind her of what had happened, of the many things that had happened. He loved her so much, not in a romantic way. He loved her as family even though they weren't, she was the only one who had the fire and punch he wanted for himself. He hoped that if he spent enough time with her it would rub off on him.