*Disclaimer* I do not own any of these characters. All characters are the property of NBC (as far as I know).

Chapter 6

After a painful and frustrating conversation Noah had left on his "next big mission to save the world," leaving his precious daughter all alone with a killer. As soon as the door had shut behind him, Claire had excused herself to use the restroom, stopping on the way back to slip the purloined knife under the mattress of her bed. Never knew when she might need it.

Now she and Sylar sat at the small coffee table in the living room eating the breakfast that Sylar had prepared. Well, he was eating. She was pretending to eat while she thought frantically about her situation. And while she thought, she stared. Claire didn't feel comfortable taking her eyes off him for even a minute. God knows what he might do….

Eyes glued on Sylar, Claire mechanically brought another fork full of egg to her mouth… and missed.

Claire gagged as egg went up her nose. Dropping the fork, she sneezed as she reached for a napkin, all the while praying to any god who would listen that Sylar hadn't seen that. Geez, how embarrassing. Caught staring and making a fool of myself.

Sylar smirked. "Tastes better if you eat it through your mouth, you know…"

Claire pointedly ignored him and retrieved her fork from where it had landed on the floor. She casually wiped it on her napkin and took another bite, this time making sure to be more careful with what she was doing. She'd discovered much to her surprise, that breakfast was actually pretty tasty. Who knew that serial killers could cook?

Claire's eyes rose to Sylar's face again and she watched him eat through hooded lids. It seemed like he didn't have a care in the world. She felt that he was enjoying his food a bit too much.

His enjoyment irritated her.

God this is an awkward, uncomfortable silence.

Sylar looked up from his plate and met her eyes. He'd known she'd been watching him again, and had apparently decided on that moment to break the silence.

"Claire, Claire, Claire. What can I do to make you trust me?" The question was asked so softly it was almost a whisper.

Claire tensed.

Sylar put down his fork and gave Claire a probing look. "I know. I could give you a gift." He said thoughtfully. "All pretty girls like gifts."

A gift? What kind of gift would a killer give? Thoughts of decapitated puppies danced in Claire's head. She quickly banished them.

"But what would Claire like?' He moved closer to her on the couch, head cocked to the side, gaze never leaving her face.

"Um, for you to stop talking about me in the third person?" she retorted snarkily…Seriously, hadn't he seen any number of horror movies? Only serial killers and crazy people talk like that….

Oh…right.

"I know. I could fix you. Would you like that, Claire?"

Ok, as nice as her name sounded when he said it, his constant use of it was really starting to creep her out. Wait… fix her?

Sylar reached a hand toward Claire and she cringed, but all he did was draw a gentle finger across her forehead, sweeping blond bangs out of her eyes in the process.

"You can't feel pain, sure. Which is probably a good thing considering all of the scrapes you get yourself into…" his voice trailed off and he smiled fondly, "but if you can't feel pain, you can't feel much else either, can you?"

Sylar trailed his finger down her cheek and under her chin, and Claire repressed a shiver. From fear or excitement, she refused to contemplate. "Can you feel pleasure, Claire?"

She refused to answer him, although it was obvious that he already knew the answer. And he also knew that she was considering his offer. If he could fix her. And she could feel again. Feel all of those wonderful things she'd been missing out on. Pain, pleasure…pleasure, pain.

But at what price?

"I'm good at fixing things," he stated with a smirk.

Of course he was. Knowing how things worked had been his first power. And if a person knew how things worked, they could fix them…. But they could also break them…

"And it would only be fair," he continued "since I'm the one that broke you in the first place."

Flashbacks of lying flat on the table, helpless and immobile as he cut open her head assailed her.

So as tempting as the idea of feeling again was, Claire remained silent. She knew what being "fixed" would entail. He'd have to open her head up again, and then she'd be vulnerable. To vulnerable. To him. Not again. She couldn't bare it.

No. Not for anything would she let him poke around in her brain again. Not even for the return of what she wanted most.

Her eyes turned dark and she jerked her head away from his hand. How dare he tempt her with something she wanted so badly, but knew she'd never accept? "If you think I'd let you cut me open and have another go, you're out of your mind!" She hissed, rejecting his offer.

Sylar dropped his hand to his lap. "Well Claire, it's certainly up to you," he said in a tone which suggested he didn't care what her decision was one way or the other, "But I'll leave the offer on the table so you can have plenty of time to think about it."

He went back to his plate of eggs. "Just so you know though, since the last time we met, I've acquired a few more abilities. I probably don't even need to open you up to get into that pretty blond head of yours anymore"

He said it casually, but Claire only glowered at him, knowing from first hand experience how those powers had been "acquired."

He smiled at her, obviously pleased at whatever reaction his words had elicited. "When you decide that you want me to do it, and you will, you know…, you just let me know."

Gabriel could tell that Claire was surprised and excited by his offer, even if she refused to admit it. He never really knew why he'd decided to "break" her that day on her kitchen table. Maybe jealousy that she had so many who loved her. So many whom she loved….

…Maybe because he had wanted her to be more like him. So they could share something together. He couldn't feel much emotionally for people – the hunger made sure of that. So in breaking Claire's ability, he'd ensured that she couldn't feel anything physically. It was the closest he had been able to come to his own wounded psyche at the time.

Loneliness. That's what they now shared.

Against his belief though, it had turned out that he could care for someone. A fact made even easier (and more transparent) when the hunger was kept at bay. And in his "reformed" state, he was starting to feel a bit guilty about what he'd made her live with. Or, more aptly, live without.

It was true what he'd said too. Thanks to Lydia's ability, Sylar didn't need to kill anymore to take powers. Her empathic ability mixed with his own original ability in a way that was very… harmonious.

Actually, Sylar wasn't sure if he'd ever really needed to kill to take the abilities of others, but he wasn't ready to deal with that line of thinking. Not yet. Deep thoughts for another day…

He was pretty sure he could deliver on what he'd just offered to Claire, though. And he could probably even do it without her noticing.

But were would the fun be in that?

He would wait. It would be a lot better for them both if she would just accept his offer. It would make their future together…easier.

Sylar thought of Claire, and how he really DID need her. Because of the balance of abilities within him, he thought that he really could be human now. He just needed to be taught how. And he knew that it was Claire who had to show him.