(A/N: Hey everyone! I'm really glad you have really enjoyed my opening chapter so here is chapter number two. Enjoy and let me know what you think! TKAMB aka Becky)

Chapter 2:

Elinor lay in bed in her dorm room trying to get some sleep. The conversation she had had the previous day with Claire had seriously affected her. She did not want to go to her lectures that day, just spend the whole day in bed. She felt so alone and out of her depth she didn't know if she was going to be able to pull out of it. She wasn't meant to be in New York to study. She had been in boarding school for the whole of her education and won a sport scholarship with NYU. She couldn't wait to study in the big city but at the moment all she could focus on was her bed. As she lay in bed with her head under the pillow she could hear someone knocking on her door

"Go away" she muttered softly to herself hoping the person on the other side would hear her but the knocking continued. After a moment the knocking grew louder so she rolled out of bed and answered the door. "You know it is rather rude to disturb someone who is sleeping especially when you knock on their dorm room door of an NYU freshman at 5am" she said without pausing which the man stood in front of her was obliviously not expecting given the look on his face

"I guess you are Elinor Parkman" he said and she focused more on the man in front of her. He was Japanese with short black hair, thin rimmed glasses and spoke fluent English but with a bit of a Japanese accent

"Look if this is to do with the broken window last night you have the wrong person. The party was next door, which is where the broken window is" Elinor explained thinking he was a member of the security team

"I'm not investigating that. I've come for you" Elinor instantly looked alarmed and stood up straight

"Who are you?" she asked and behind the door, out of his sight she reached for something to protect her. She managed to grab a baseball bat and held it as close to her as possible without him realising

"Relax; I'm a friend of Claire Bennett. I'm here to help you. My name is Hiro Nakamura. I've come to help"

"Ok Hiro; tell Claire three things for me. 1) She had no right to tell her friends about my private affairs since we have only known each other a day so I can't even call her a friend yet, 2) I did not ask for your help and 3) I've been alone long enough to know when I need help so when I do I will ask for it understand? Please go, you have no idea what I need ok" she went to close the door but he stopped it by wedging his foot in its path. "I'm warning you; get out before I call security"

"She has something to tell you. She needs to see you tonight. It is important. It's important, your uncle needs you I can tell you need him greatly too" hearing those words something stirred in Elinor's soul and she turned to him

"Go to hell" She pulled out the baseball bat and went to hit him. As she brought it down it disappeared from her hands and Hiro was gone. She looked around but couldn't find him. Closing her door she leant back against it and slid to the floor with her eyes closed. "It's just your imagination" she reassured herself and opened her eyes. Opposite her was her mirror. Staring at her reflection she noticed her door and saw a series of letters had been carved into it but through the reflection it was backwards. She turned around and backed away to see the carving fully. It read: '8:30pm 237 May Street Apartment 5c. Come alone'. Her breath caught in her throat and she ran to the bed pulling the duvet completely over her trying to fade away and believe it was all a dream.

-----

She had debated all day if she should go. All through her lectures she found herself doodling and thinking about the address rather than focusing on lecture slides and taking part in debates. In the end she decided to distract herself by getting into her running gear and jog off her problems. If she got to May Street when she needed to be there then she would go see Claire. If not then she would return to her dorm room. She tied up her hair in a pony tail and wore tight bright pink sports top which cut off under her bust, grey jogger bottoms, grey hooded University sweatshirt and a pair of white trainers. She put on her IPod and put her headphones in her ears ready for her run. For the next couple of hours she didn't notice anything, only focused on her music and the open road in front of her. However everything got on top of her and with sweat pouring from her body she stopped and began to cry alone in the dark. She lowered to the floor and sat on the side of the road, her eyes closed taking deep breaths.

"Miss are you ok?" she heard and looked up to see a man in the shadows across the road from her. It was dark now and she felt herself tense up

"Yeah um ... It's just been a rough day you know?" She began to think he could attack her and where she needed to go. "Um can you tell me where May Street is? I'm new to the big apple, went for a run and got a little lost!" the man came closer and smiled

"That isn't very clever of you to do in a place like this. New York can be very dangerous especially if you don't know where ... or who you are. I live in May Street. 237 to be precise if that was what you were wondering" the man responded. Elinor looked at him confused and stood up

"I wasn't wondering where you lived sir"

"Sure you weren't" he said smiling and she felt drawn to him somehow. 'God he's cute' she thought and his smile broadened hearing it in his head. "You can trust me, come on"

"How can you ask me to trust someone who appears out of the shadows and happens to be going to the exact same address as me? I wasn't born yesterday buddy!" the man walked right up to her until his face was only an inch away from hers. She wanted to step back but for some reason couldn't, as if deep down she really trusted him

"If you really felt I was a bad guy you would have run already rather than stand here and talk to me. You are right, you weren't born yesterday but you weren't exactly blessed with intelligence either. Trust me" he said softly

"What's your name?" she asked

"Gabriel and it's a pleasure to meet you Elinor. My what a beautiful name you have" she wasn't prepared for him to say her name

"How do you know my name?" she asked in shock

"It's written on you sweatshirt" she looked down and saw to the right of her sweatshirt said 'Elinor Parkman Gymnastics team NYU'. She didn't know how to react to this event so she just stood there. He backed away but spoke louder for her to hear. "Look you don't have to follow me if you don't want help, but I have to warn you, without me you may not get to your destination alive. Your choice" She remained on the spot where she stood for a few moments before finally giving in. She began to follow him standing by his side but stood far away enough to get a clear get away

"So do you live alone?"Elinor asked after nearly five minutes of silence

"No, I live with a guy. A friend of mine called Peter and his niece Claire. I haven't known them very long but they are good friends of mine and now I live with them. It can be a bit problematic at times but we get by"

"Problematic meaning that you need your own space from time to time?" she asked and he nodded

"That and it doesn't help having a teenager hanging around when you are trying to get on with your life!" Elinor giggled for the first time in a while and was surprised by that

"I know what you mean! I was an only child so I like my space but growing up in boarding school that was not an option for me"

"Must have been hard" he commented

"Just something you get used to. Just with anything in life, it's like a force that takes over you from time to time. Something you may wish was not there but you also can't live without ... You crave for it, it becomes your addiction even though it is so wrong" Gabriel smiled and the thoughts of his alter ego Syler came to his mind but he managed to suppress them. "I'm sorry I'm probably talking a load of rubbish"

"No, you have no idea how right you are ... We are here" she looked around and saw the May Street sign and the apartment blocks that ran down it. She felt her nerves increase as she stepped into the building. Gabriel got into the elevator but Elinor didn't follow.

"Do... do you mind if we take the stairs? I'm not very good in... Confined spaces" she asked and he noticed her beginning to fidget with terror

"Ok, if that's what you want" they began to walk up the stairs and Elinor gripped the hand rail. After a few steps a static charge built up and she felt an electric shock against her hand

"Ow!" she said as quickly as she pulled her hand away

"You ok?" Gabriel asked turning to her

"Yeah! You can't take me anywhere" she laughed and he smiled. After a few minutes they arrived at the address and Gabriel unlocked the door

"Claire? I'm back. We have a guest" Elinor looked around the apartment and saw how expensive and extremely clean it was. No doubt they were rich and had the high life to be able to hire someone to clean their apartment. Either that or one of them had a serious cleaning OCD. She heard Claire enter the room behind her and turned around

"Hey" Claire said softly and the three of them stood in silence

"I'm just going to ..." Gabriel left the room, heading for the kitchen

"Why did you do it? Why did you tell my business to your friend and have Hiro if that is his real name come to my dorm room? What did you get him to do to me? That is one sick joke he did and I hope you're happy now! One minute he's there, the next he's gone with a message carved into my door! Who is he? I can't believe you would do this Claire! I have never asked anything of you, so tell me why?"

"It's to do with your uncle. When I said I know your uncle I wasn't lying. It's true I KNOW your uncle and talk to him all the time. We all do, all my friends because he is VERY much alive"

"You are sick do you know that?" Elinor yelled back and Gabriel suddenly appeared in the doorway behind Claire

"She isn't sick because she isn't lying to you. Something has gone wrong leading you to believe this"

"It is bad enough that I have to cope alone in this world without some jumped up cheerleader from Texas and her uncle as well as their creepy best friends making it even worse. How dare you think you can suddenly come in and mess it all up again when you have no clue what crap I've had to put up with. Do me a favour Claire and stay away from me on campus because I sure as hell do not want to be anywhere near you" Elinor felt better for getting that off her chest and ran to the door. She fully opened the door ready to rush out but froze in motion. Stood in the doorway was Matt looking just as shocked seeing her as she was seeing him. For a moment she felt like she couldn't breathe. She began to back away from him in disbelief

"Hey cherry blossom"

"Teddy?" she whispered making him smile

"Yeah" he whispered back. Slowly she brought her right hand up and gingerly brought it to his torso to see if he was real. She touched his chest and smiled

"You are real" she said after a moment and he pulled her into a big hug as tears rolled down her cheeks. "They told me you were dead. I tried to call Aunt Janice and since I could never get through and she never called I gathered ... given our past differences she didn't want me at the funeral" Elinor explained through tears

"I should have contacted you more over the past few months, I got somewhat distracted" he explained. "You look more stunning than ever before"

"Matt I've been running for the past two hours and I'm covered in sweat and blubbering like a baby! Illuminate me" Matt chuckled as she dried her eyes

"You always know how to make me laugh" Matt commented as he cupped her right cheek

"Ditto" He kissed her forehead and pulled her into another hug. She had forgotten how wonderful it was to be in his arms again and she loved every second of it

"Elinor, I'm so sorry this had to happen. It was all my fault and I understand if you still don't want to be my friend" Claire said as Matt and Elinor parted

"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said what I said. You were right and I was wrong. But I can't understand ... how is this your fault?" Elinor turned around to Claire and was shocked to see many people in the room including Hiro. She couldn't contemplate how they all got into the apartment given that she was at the door. The apartment may have been large but not large enough for so many people to be in one room and not be noticed by anyone else in any other part of the apartment. She gasped and stepped back away from them

"It happened because of Matt's gift and the ones that the rest of us possess" Hiro said

"What gifts?" she asked frantically and looked to her right. Right at that second DL walked through the wall into the apartment making Elinor scream

"Cherry blossom, it's ok really. Just calm down" Mat tried to reassure her

"I am perfectly calm" she argued

"No you're not I can hear your heart beat"

'This isn't real; it can't be real can it? I'll wake up soon and it'll all just be one of my crazy dreams' Elinor thought and Matt shook his head

"It is totally real honey trust me, you are not dreaming anything"

"My adopted dad in Texas was hunting for us, the chosen ones that possess special gifts. He tracked down Matt with one of his specially gifted friends making Matt collapse in a bar. He intended to make Matt disappear but certain events prevented that. By the time he contacted you it was too late to take it back" Claire explained

"So you all have this one power? H ... how does this work?"

"I believe I can answer that one" an Indian man walked towards her. "My name is Mohinder Suresh. My father was conducting research into this subject when he was killed. He was tracking down gifted people to discover the way in which we are evolving and what the future will hold for the human race"

"I can't do this. Everything in my teaching has told me that this cannot be real. I can't" Elinor suddenly said and turned to Matt. "I'm sorry" she opened the apartment door and rushed down the stairs

"ELINOR WAIT!" Matt yelled after her but she didn't listen. All she could do was run as fast as she could. She didn't know where she was going all she knew was she had to get away. Suddenly she stopped and looked around. From behind she heard screeching tyres and turned to see a lorry coming towards her. It was too close for her to get away so she shut her eyes as tightly as she could and screamed in her head 'TEDDY HELP'. Suddenly she felt herself fall against the ground with a weight on top of her hearing the lorry rush by

"You're ok, I've got you" she heard someone say but she suddenly felt faint. She partly opened her eyes and saw a man with jet black hair and big dark eyes before everything went black