Peter went in making sure Sylar was next to him the whole time

Peter went in making sure Sylar was next to him the whole time. He hoped that Matt was in already today. Last night after they'd gotten Nathan home, Matt received a call from Mohinder asking him to come home and help him with Molly. He hadn't gone into details, but as he was leaving, Matt had told Peter and Nathan that Sylar was in town and to be careful.

Peter went to the front desk and said, "I need to see Matt Parkman please."

The front desk agent told Peter and Sylar to take a seat while he called Matt. Peter sat down and waited, trying to figure out what he was going to say to Matt.

Sylar sat next to him silently observing Peter a moment before bringing his attention to the surrounding room to take in all possible exits in case something were to go down. After mentally taking note of the lobby, Sylar glanced back up to Peter with a quizzical expression as he wondered, 'Parkman…' His eidetic memory filtered back to Kirby Plaza, 'His name was on the policeman's badge that I slung his own bullets back into his chest. If it's the same man, I wonder if he has powers to?'

He wanted to strike up a conversation with the man in front of him, but wasn't sure what to say to him. He realized that since the car ride was so short, the two hadn't really spoken since they first met. He hadn't even asked Peter his name. No better time than the present he thought, "What's your name?" he queried seeing where the conversation would lead.

Listening to Sylar's thoughts, Peter was relieved to hear that Sylar didn't know what Matt's ability was, because if he did, the plan would never work.

Even though Peter had plenty of reasons to hate Sylar, reasons to kill him even, he found himself wanting to find out what made Sylar tick. He answered, "My name is Peter. What's yours?"

Sylar opened his mouth to speak, "Sa… Sam. My Name is Sam." 'Almost slipped that one up' he thought before returning his attention back to the conversation, "Thanks for stopping to help me." Sylar was genuinely happy Peter had wanted to help him verses just calling a cop to collect him.

Peter never would have guessed he'd hear that from the person who wanted to kill him. "Sure Sam. I'm glad I'm the one who found you."

The agent at the front desk called out to Peter and said, "Officer Parkman said he can see you now. I can show you back to his desk."

Peter stood and said, "I know the way thanks."

He turned back to Sylar. He didn't really want to leave him out here alone, because he could try to hurt someone or run off. But he also didn't want Matt's face to give it away when he told him what was really going on. Peter said, "Hey Sam, do you think you can sit here and wait for me for just a few minutes?"

Sylar had rose when Peter had and hesitated a worried look crossing his features when Peter had asked him to stay, but he relaxed thinking, 'I don't have to go with him; I'll just tune in my hearing to find out what they say about me.' He smiled widely as he responded, "Sure. I can stay here."

"Thanks." Peter walked back towards Matt's desk, thinking about what he was going to say out loud to make sure Sylar stayed.

Matt saw Peter and said with surprise, "Hi Peter, what are you doing here today? Is Nathan okay?"

Peter reassured him, "Nathan's fine. I'm here because I need your help with something else." He thought 'Play along, someone is listening in.'

Matt nodded, "Okay, what can I help you with." Then thought, 'what's really going on?'

"When I went home this morning I found a little boy sleeping on the steps to my apartment. He told me he got separated from his folks, so I convinced him to come here with me." Peter thought to Matt, 'I need time to tell you. Pretend to fill out paperwork.'

As an afterthought Peter said out loud, "Though I think he may be a runaway, because he doesn't have any shoes, and his clothes don't look like his own." He could tell Sylar had been suspicious about being left out front. That should help explain it.

Matt said, "Have a seat while I fill out this preliminary paperwork, and then we can check the missing children's report."

Peter sat and Matt picked up a pencil and scratch paper. He started scribbling on the page and looked at Peter. He thought 'Tell me.'

Peter thought, 'The boy is out in the lobby, but the boy isn't lost, the boy is Sylar.'

Matt stopped writing and looked in the direction of the lobby, which he couldn't see from his desk. He looked back at Peter and thought, 'What are you talking about?'

'One of the people like us must have the ability to make people younger. I read his thoughts, so I know it's Sylar, but he's not an adult anymore, he's seven or eight with all his adult thoughts still intact.'

Matt said, 'Does he still have his powers?'

'He hasn't demonstrated them, but he thinks he does.'

Matt realized Sylar was the person listening in, and continued to scribble on the page. He said, "Can you give me a name and general description of the child?"

Peter said, "He said his name is Sam. He's got dark brown hair, white skin, and he looks like he's seven or eight."

Matt thought back to Peter, 'Having him younger is the perfect opportunity to catch him. Do we know if it's permanent?'

'I don't know. But he knows who did it to him, so we could find her and ask once we figure out what we're going to do with him.'

Matt thought, 'I'll pretend to go check the missing person's report, and then I'll go to a soundproof room and call Mohinder. Come up with a plan and then I'll let you know what's going on.'

Peter nodded in understanding. Matt stood up and said, "Let's go ask him for a last name, and then I'll check the missing children's report."

Peter stood as well and headed out towards the lobby.

Sylar listened intently to the mock conversation giving a small chuckle at Peter's Runaway theory as he thought, 'Yea, have fun looking up that lead.' When he heard that they were coming to ask him for a last name, Sylar hastily looked around the room honing in on a office supply holder where it had several items. He saw a pack of post it's and decided that Post was his new last name.

He whipped back around to face the two men before they came around the corner unable to keep the smile from creeping across his face, 'This is going to be a piece of cake; maybe I can even figure out during our little interview whether tubby there has any powers to.' Sylar mused.

Matt was too amazed at the sight of a child Sylar to be offended by the tubby remark. He had a hard time trying to keep the shock off his face, but attempted it. He tried to bring up the reassuring smile he would give to most kids he saw on the job who were in difficult situations.

Peter said, "Sam, this is Officer Parkman. Matt, this here is Sam."

Matt squatted down to be on eye level with Sylar, wanting to get a good look at him. He said, "Hi Sam, it's nice to meet you. I just need to ask you a few questions."

Sylar hated the fact that Matt had to bent down to get eye level with him; it made him feel somehow inferior, but he tried not to show the distress these feelings caused. To make himself feel better, he sat up straight so that he was now in fact looking down at Matt. He smirked satisfyingly as he nodded his head and replied, "Okay. What do you want to know Officer Parkman?"

Matt asked, "Could you tell me how you got separated from your folks?"

Sylar had thought out this story long before he'd met up with Peter, and he had it pretty well detailed. He lied, "We were coming in town to visit my Grandma. When we arrived on the bus at the… Port Authority? Yea… that's where it was. We got on the subway to get to grandma's house. We were riding for awhile… and I got bored. The doors kept opening, and I just wanted to see what was on the other side. I went outside, and the doors closed again, and the train left me." He did his best to sound the part of a lost child pretty sure any adult would buy the story coming out of a seven year olds mouth.

Matt was impressed with how sincere Sylar sounded. If he didn't know who it was, he would have believed the lie. He nodded and said, "Okay, that's good. Now I need to know your age, your full name, and your parent's names."

Sylar sighed thinking, 'This is going to take forever! I'm so tired…' The lack of sleep along with the fact he could feel this body growing and using up more energy than he had been accustomed to left him feeling drained. He answered, "seven; Sam Post… and," he hadn't thought of parent names, but decided it would be okay just to use his own parents first names, "Virginia and Timothy." The mention of his mother's name brought a pang of guilt as he thought, 'I never meant to hurt you mom, but I'm going to make you proud now. You'll see."

Matt shared a look with Peter as he stood up. He thought 'He's tired. That's good; he'll be more likely to let his guard down. I'll go call Mohinder.'

Matt looked down at Sylar and said, "Okay Sam. Thanks for the information. I'll go see what I can find out."

Peter said, "Thanks Matt." and sat down next to Sylar to wait. A few seconds later Peter realized he hadn't had breakfast yet, and he was hungry. He looked over at Sylar and said, "I'm gonna go get something to eat out of the vending machine while we wait. You want something?"

Sylar's stomach growled in response to Peter's query as he nodded his agreement and responded, "I'm starving!"

Peter walked over to the vending machine and got a couple of bucks out of his wallet. "What do you want?"