AU after 3.12
The beach scene did not end the way it did. At least not in my mind! It's not beta'd so please let me know if there are any mistakes. Hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Heroes.
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At the hospital, they told Elle a good Samaritan (hah!) had dropped her off and left without leaving his name. She had been unconscious for two days but they had no idea why – she didn't have a scratch on her.
Still, they wanted to keep her for another day for observation.
"It's only routine, Angel," the nurse told her and she blinked. She snuck a peak at her chart after he left. Angel Elliot. She knew immediately who had dropped her off. Just what the hell was Sylar playing at?
She didn't stick around to find out of course. By the next day, she was already stepping off a plane in the middle of Kansas.
___
She didn't want to think about why he let her go. And she certainly did not want to examine any feelings she might still have for him. She told herself she would have to be pretty messed up to still have feelings for someone who had sliced and diced her twice now. At times like this, she couldn't help but think about all the testing she had been through as a child but wasn't supposed to remember.
She found herself an apartment. Noah Bennet had taught her better than he thought. Everyone monitored everyone at the Company and Noah had been no exception. She had known that he kept money and passports, different identities in different places, in case he ever had to run. She never told anyone. After all, it was a very good idea and if she ever needed to find him in the future, she would know where to look. Better to let him think his little secret was safe.
So even though she had told herself she would never need a safety net the way Bennet someday might, one day she had found herself making the same arrangements and then quickly forgetting about them.
Until now.
So, she found herself in a bland little town with not a clue what to do with herself. She didn't need to work but she was used to it. One day, as she was eating cherry pie a la mode by herself in a sleepy diner, she realized it might be nice to be a normal member of society for a change. She applied for work at that same diner and started as a waitress. She asked if she could wear roller skates at work and was only slightly disappointed when they said no.
She was surprised to find that she enjoyed it there and that one day had turned into one week and then a month. She found the interactions she had with her co-workers and customers fulfilling in a strange way. She could flirt and smile and act as if she was happy and full of sunshine and had absolutely nothing to hide. On the run from a super-powered, serial killing lover? Who, me? Nah!
It was nice to pretend.
She was leaving the diner late one night and making her way to her apartment. She enjoyed the crisp air and always made sure to walk to her apartment as slowly as possible at times like this when the weather was cool and the wind was playful and threw up leaves in her path. No need to worry about thugs or rapists – she had already tussled with the boogeyman and lived. Sylar was powerful, yes, but she was tough too. She could call down electric death if she wanted to.
She had just reached the darkest part of the park she liked to cut through when she felt it. There was an electric charge in the air and it was not coming from her. It was calling to her. Like to like. Her heart was in her throat and she didn't know if she was more frightened or excited. It was the middle of the night, no one else around. They were surrounded by trees and by moonlight. She had known he would come again, had thought of all the things she would do and say when he did. Had imagined filling him with so much electric juice that he wouldn't know left from right and would finally understand the pain he put her through. But when she turned and saw him standing by the park bench she had passed, 20 feet away, his eyes full of some strange something, she realized how terribly she had missed him. Even if he was a crazy, murdering bastard. Not that she was going to let something like her own messed up feelings get in the way of toasting his ass if she needed to.
"There's no point in you stalking me, you bastard." The moment she said it, she knew she would never have forgiven him if he hadn't. She was pretty sure that wasn't normal. But it didn't mean she was going to forgive him.
"Yes, there is."
She narrowed her eyes at him.
"I…had to figure something out." He looked at her for a moment as if searching for something. She waited but he didn't say anything more. She was getting impatient. After all this time, this was how he was going to act when he finally saw her again? No apologies, no explanations? He should be falling to his knees begging for forgiveness!
"What?" She spat at him, "What did you figure out? That you shouldn't mix darks with your whites? That brow waxing isn't just for women? That a simple 'I don't think we should see each other anymore' is how you should break up with someone?! What?!"
"Did you ever care about me, Elle?"
"Ugh! No, I hate your stupid guts!" She curled her hands around a rather large burst of energy and shot it right at his gut. He didn't block it and he didn't move, just grunted. She turned up the juice and poured more energy into the zap until he was lying on the ground, his skin slowly knitting back together.
"You're lying," he breathed, relieved. He picked himself up and whispered good-bye to her. She blinked and he was gone. Well that's a new one, she thought. She quickly checked the area but he had vanished. She felt slightly deflated.
And had he just teleported out? Leave at super speed? In between finding her again, it looked like he had added to his collection. She turned and walked home.
___
The next night, in the middle of her shift at the diner, he came in and sat in her section. She was just serving another table when she looked up to see him watching her cautiously, hopefully. She walked over, steaming coffee pot still in hand to stand over him menacingly. He understood the implied threat. One wrong move and he'd be getting a lapful of Columbian grown decaf.
"I thought you weren't going to bother me again," she said threateningly.
"I never said that."
"Well what the hell are you doing here? I work here, you know."
"I know that. I'm just here for some pie."
"Yeah, right!"
"Is there a problem?" Her manager appeared at the table. He glanced between them and looked at Elle in concern. His look clearly asked if Sylar was bothering her.
Sylar had put on his most sincere and disarming smile. "Of course not. Is there –" his eyes flicked to her name badge and he smirked, "Dorothy?" A month ago, she wouldn't have cared if he razed this place to the ground with everyone in it but she found now that actually did care a bit about the people who had accepted her here, no questions asked.
"No…it's fine Hank."
"If you're sure…"
"Yes, I'm sure."
After Hank left, she leaned down to whisper at Sylar viciously, "One piece and then you are leaving." She turned without waiting for a reply.
He took his time eating the pie and kept his eyes on her the entire time. When he left, she found herself staring down at a little silver box he had left on his table. She slowly lifted the lid. Nestled gently inside was a small cut crystal flower. It was one she had never seen before but very beautiful. She ran her finger against it and thought about what he was doing. Was he trying to be a normal person? She didn't want to think that it was possible. He had tried before. It hadn't worked. Was she supposed to trust him again? He was going to have to do a lot better than flowers to make up for the crap he put her through.
She was hardly surprised when he showed up again the next night.
She ignored him as she set his order down and turned to leave when his hand shot out to catch her wrist. She stiffened and he let go immediately. She turned to stare down at him. He was wearing his glasses again and a dark coat with a hoodie peaking out. His hair was sticking up slightly like he had run his hands through it and his face flushed as she appraised him. She waited for him to speak.
"Did you…did you like it?"
"What…? Oh. Oh, um, yeah." His eyes looked strangely vulnerable for a moment and she felt the need to continue. "I've never gotten anything like that before… What is it? I mean, what kind is it?"
"It's a lotus flower. It reminded me of you."
Her heart did a little flip in her chest and she suddenly wished he hadn't come in. It was so much easier to hate him when he didn't do things like that. Act like the old Gabriel. Act like she meant something to him. What kind of a person was he to do this to her anyway? How many times was he going to hurt her before she learned?
He must have read the unhappiness on her face.
"I know it doesn't make up for –"
"You're right. It doesn't." She turned and hurried back into the kitchen, blinking furiously. When she came out again, he was gone.
___
He came again the next night and ordered pie and coffee. It was almost as if they had an understanding. The diner was neutral territory. No fighting, no powers allowed. If he came, fine, but he better keep his nose clean.
He watched her the entire time he was there and when he left she found a book where he had been sitting. It was on exotic flowers. There was a note stuck inside with just her name written on it. She took it home with her and found the section on lotus flowers. She didn't know if she should be insulted or amused when she read that they were considered more precious for having grown out of the muck. She kept the book next to the flower on her nightstand.
___
He came again every night for the rest of the week, always ordering pie. Sometimes he had it with milk, sometimes it was coffee. He brought books with him to read and stayed there for almost her entire shift, surreptitiously staring at her when he though she wasn't looking. There were usually very few customers when he came in but she ignored him for the most part anyway. She began to feel on edge when he was there. What was he doing just hanging around night after night? He never spoke to her except when he placed his order. It was almost as if he was waiting for something.
A week after he began what she secretly began to dub as his "Hi, Pie, Bye" visits, she finally asked him what the hell he was doing there. He looked at her sadly for a moment as if to say, can't you tell?
"You really don't know?"
"I wouldn't be asking if I knew."
"I…missed you."
"You don't get to miss me!"
"Well I do."
"Well try not to!"
He gave her a disgruntled look. "I've tried not to."
"Well try harder."
"Elle," he looked at her seriously. "Do you really want me to leave?"
She ignored his question. "I don't like this." She gestured between the two of them. "I don't like you coming in here expecting us to just be normal again! I don't like you leaving me things to soften me up!"
"Would you prefer it if you never saw me again?" His face was tense.
"I would prefer it if you never cut me open again," she said in a hard voice.
He closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, they were filled with such sadness that for a moment she felt ashamed. He was looking at her like she had just put his dog down. Why did he have to look like that? This wasn't her fault! He was staring at her with his sad, beautiful eyes and she suddenly felt the need to apologize for throwing the stinking corpse of the truth between them. It wasn't fair! He was speaking again.
"That…that was a mistake. I would never…I won't. Not ever again. I promise you."
"Why the hell should I believe you?"
"Because I love you," he said with the utmost sincerity. Tears sprang to her eyes.
"You have a lousy way of showing it."
"I'm sorry."
"You should be. You have a lot to make up for." For the first time, she saw a little bit of hope creep into his eyes. "When did you figure out that you loved me anyway?"
"Since the first moment I saw you." That did it. The tears were freely flowing now.
"Even though…even when…"
"Yes."
"Well then why did you…?"
He looked away for a moment. "I was a fool. And I thought, if you weren't around anymore, I wouldn't feel this way." He looked back at her. "I was wrong."
"You are such a bastard. You know that right? I would be crazy to trust you."
"I know," he said quietly.
"You better not disappoint me again." She looked at him with her face full of tears. She saw his breathe hitch in his throat and suddenly he was out of his chair and kissing her and she has hanging onto him like he was all she had in the world.
"I won't."
And somehow, she knew that he wouldn't.