HEY AY SAYCHAY :D (you know who you are ;) ) LOL ….. -_- my dignity…
Claire was only partially aware of her surroundings. What she was aware of however was a very warm spot in the middle of her back. She shifted a bit and noticed this warm spot had weight to it. She groaned internally and hefted herself up on her hands to inspect this warm spot.
She mouth made a small 'o' when she realised it was Sylar's hand resting in the centre of her back, trailing her eyes from his hand to his outstretched arm that (thankfully) put some distance between them, and to his face that was away from her.
She contemplated waking him up till she looked at the time. 5:16? Why the hell am I awake?
She directed her attention on being very, extremely, mouse-like quiet. Considering Sylar's hearing, he would probably wake up if he heard a mouse anyway.
She very carefully and gently lowered herself back to the ground and rested her head on the pillow again. A breeze rolled in from under the door, which she felt immediately due to her place on the ground. Her body shivered, except for that large warm spot though.
Claire looked over Sylar's sleeping form and considered. She was pretty chilly right now...
She was only half-aware that she was making excuses for the move she was considering. If he were to wake up, she would pretend to be asleep and just moving round…nothing suss.
Very carefully, similar to the gentleness a thief would use to steal the Queen's crown while she was wearing it, she slid – no shuffled inch by inch till she was resting against Sylar's side.
Checking that he was still asleep, she wondered just how far she could or should take it. Pursing her lips, she nestled further into his side till he was weighing down on her, her face under his shoulder as he lay on his stomach.
She was as warm as a polar bear in the desert, however she hadn't calculated for the possibility of him moving. And oh, did he move. He moved so his arm was now wrapped tightly around her torso, he moved his head so he was now face to face with her, he moved his arm that was previously under the pillow now to under her head creating a pillow for her.
She didn't want to be awake when he woke up that's for damn sure. Plus, this position was surprisingly comfortable, now she knew why people wrapped themselves around each other just before they went to sleep. It was also intensely intimate and somehow romantic. She tried to imagine anyone else but Sylar there with her. West maybe, even Zach but at the same time…all she wanted was Sylar. Right now, she knew Sylar's body better than any guy's at this point (partially due to her lack of experience), and she sizzled with the sentimentality. Thinking about sharing her first night with a male that wasn't Mr Muggles, she drifted off to sleep.
'Don't. Move.' was the first thing that popped into Sylar's mind after he slowly opened his eyes. And after shielding them from the sun's light, he not long after realised he was more or less entangled with Claire, looking like one was being an alligator and the other a wrestler and given up somewhere in the middle of battle.
'Oh man, if she wakes up…I'm so dead.' So what Sylar opted to do was try and figure out a way out of this.
He wondered if he could somehow pull his arm out…no, that wouldn't work. Maybe he could move Claire slightly to the left and…no, that wouldn't work either.
Perhaps he should just wait till she woke up? He gently removed his arm from around Claire's waist and searched around the floor space behind him till his fingers brushed his phone. Grasping it, he brought it to his face and read 6:44.
He sighed. He had wanted to get out of this dump by 5:30 maybe 6:00.
But he didn't want to move. He was so content. So content laying here with the girl that had one point, actually succeeded in killing him, the girl that he wanted most to prove wrong, the girl he wanted to love him. No matter how deluded his list was, he would continue to dream, to want.
He rested his cheek against hers before he gently kissed it. She stirred stiffly and stretched against his body, but he didn't let go. After she settled he decided to wake her up.
He put his mouth to her ear, "Claire," He whispered, "Wake up."
She groaned softly and stirred but nothing else.
He chuckled softly and said again, "Claire, wake up."
Her reply was cracked, "No." Then she buried further into him. She was obviously still 90% asleep otherwise she would've shot herself in the foot if she consciously did that. Or so he thought.
He breathlessly chuckled again, "Why not?"
She rubbed her face against him for a second then said, "Because. Shut up."
He laughed at this and she groaned at his volume, "It's nearly 7:00. We were meant to get going nearly an hour ago."
"I don't care. It's cold out there."
"And you're warm now?" He asked just to hear her say it.
"Yes." She unconsciously rested her palm against his neck.
He got bold, "…So would you ever do it again?" He smirked.
She lifted her head up to look into his eyes. Way to ruin it Sylar. All she got in reply though was Sylar's booming laugh and thrown back head.
Ok, now she was awake, "Get off me." She said and began to push at him.
Still laughing he said, "No no, I'm sorry." He held her tighter.
"No, get off." Claire continued pushing him and he let go with a load laughing groan.
She threw off the blankets and instantly regretted it when the chill of the morning and leftover rain hit her exposed legs. Maybe she should've stayed in bed…No!
"Now get up or we're going to have to stay somewhere on the way back." She avoided eye contact with him because she just knew what his face would look like right now.
Clean from the shower before bed, she didn't need one in the morning, so she just put some makeup on and psyched herself for her meeting with a serial killer. It's not like this would be the first serial killer she's met and spoken with, and certainly doesn't sound like the scariest. She was practically a seasoned veteran at meetings with killers, so this should be an easy as pie job. Theoretically.
After everyone was dressed and packed, they exited their crappy room and walked to the car.
"Aren't you going to sign us out?" Claire asked with her hand on the car door handle.
Sylar almost laughed, "I'm not going back in there. You do it." He laughed to himself and slid in the car.
Claire made a slightly annoyed face and headed to the unwelcoming booth. Literally, there wasn't even a welcome sign on the door, which was surprising for a motel.
She stepped in the warm room and the bell above the door dinged in response. The same guy from yesterday poked his head around the corner and caught sight of her. She waved shyly and he grinned his half-toothless grin.
The guy quickly came up behind the counter, "Ah! Mrs Sylar! Did you enjoy your stay? You want another night? I give you discount, just for you, yeah?"
Claire quickly shook her head and smiled awkwardly, "Um, no thank you. Just checking out."
The guy's face instantly dropped, he looked past her head out the window and spotted the waiting car, "Ah, fine then. I get it. I thought he would left after we fight last night." He mumbled to the paper he was crossing their names off of.
Claire furrowed her brows, "Sorry about him. He was just tired." She defended Sylar although she had no idea what he was talking about.
The clerk said nothing to her but gave her a receipt which he wrote himself.
Claire turned slowly, her eyes widening for a second at his strangeness. She exited the booth and approached the car. She slipped in and scrunched the piece of paper up and threw it on the backseat.
Sylar revved the car to life and sped out of that guy's parking lot just for good measure, "Let's get out of here." And they were on their way to Pratt.
Claire was still looking at that file, just reading trivial little things about this guy. She never read the page they were supposed to be reading. Like their objectives when they were to meet this Mack guy.
It's probably best she not know till the last minute anyway. Knowing her, she'd probably go all humanitarian on him and cry.
The drive was relatively fast, having covered a lot of ground yesterday. Claire wanted to know about Mack. This was her first case and she wanted to remember it. Sylar's done it before so he's probably not as into it as she.
She had read his personal info page a hundred times over, she flipped the page and read their task requirements and outcomes.
It was all about locating the target, subduing him, directions to go in for different scenarios, killing him-
"…Kill him?" Claire whipped her head around to look at the side of Sylar's face.
"Yes." Was his simple reply.
"I wasn't told we'd have to kill the guy!" Claire spoke angrily.
"It's part of the job, Claire. Sometimes it has to be done."
"Oh, what? Like it was done to you?"
He turned his head and looked at her, glancing every few seconds back to the deserted road, "In case you've forgotten, you, your dad, Peter, everyone tried to kill me. Just because you didn't succeed doesn't mean it wasn't written for someone to read." He turned back to the road.
"I'm not trying to kill you now."
"Because you can't." Sylar tried to consider this wasn't the only reason she hadn't tried to kill him yet.
"Everyone gave you a chance and it worked and now you're not like you were before." She couldn't bring herself to say he was different, to say he was good.
"No," Sylar pointed at his chest, "I gave myself a chance." He said emotionally, knowing she had hit a soft spot. "If any of you had it your way, I'd be dead."
She looked at him angrily and shocked, "How can you say that? We have given you a chance! More than one! The others, they forgive you! They trust you!" Ok maybe not trust, but she was trying to get a point across.
His tone softened, "And what about you? Do you trust me?"
"No! I don't!" She turned towards him angrily, "You know why Sylar? Because you're a killer." She faced the front windshield and crossed her arms over her chest.
She heard Sylar say nothing, and she didn't want to look at his face.
He wasn't going to admit that what she said cut him. He hardly wanted to admit it to himself. He thought they were getting along…after last night, the fun games, and playful arguments…was she just doing that to mess with him? Mess with his rehabilitation?
He hadn't said anything after that, in fear of his voice cracking or him saying something he might regret. He would just concentrate on getting the job done then going home. Or lack thereof. After his spree had ended, he didn't have a place to go back to. Not his previous home, not his mother's. Peter had offered him his spare room; apparently it was hard not living with someone after you've lived with them for five years in an empty world. But he couldn't do it. He felt unbelievably guilty; he didn't know he was capable of guilt and remorse after what he'd done when he was evil-Sylar. Plus Claire was there. And he knew for a fact she wasn't ready to see him being nice after a year of watching him be cruel. So he just set up home at a pay-per-night motel towards the edge of the city, where it was cheaper.
He felt he should apologise for something, but at the same time too prideful. Plus, she should be the one apologising. Making him feel like crap after he'd changed his life to accommodate the feelings of others. He decided then he deserves a medal of some almost scoffed at the idea.
"…He lives here?" Claire asked unbelievably.
Sylar sighed, hand on the door handle, "Shoulda seen my place…" He said jokingly, and stepped out of the car.
Claire laughed internally, he was funny when he wanted to be. But he was also a jerk when he wanted to be. She copied him and stepped out of the car.
She tried to take in the dirty old farmhouse's exterior. She grimaced at the dirt coloured wood panelling, the weeds that were growing unhindered to obscure the view of the mailbox, most of the short wooden fence and the windows. The grass was a pale dark green sort of colour, like the grass was sick or something. Her mother would've had a heart attack and at the same time, a field day cleaning up this garden.
Sylar had a similar opinion. It looked quite daunting, so unwelcoming. He pressed the button on his key to signal the car to be locked. It chirped happily and he wiggled the handle to check it was locked like he always did, just a small habit.
Neither wanted to be the first to approach the rotted wood of the front door that smelled like a racoon, but he knew she would make him go anyway. Looking at Claire for a second, he banged three times on the door, it creaking under pressure.
There was movement inside and their eyes travelled over the door, waiting for it to open. But the door made no movement.
"Who is it?" A raspy voice came from the other side.
"Tax office, would you please open up sir?" Great! He had to chose to imitate the most hated people in the world. But he had to think and say the first thing that came to his mind, and he knew the tax office would want him to do something about all of the unopened bills shoved in the letter box.
"Go away! Get off my property or I'll get my gun!" The voice was slightly panicked on the other side.
Claire made a deadpanned face at Sylar, he just shrugged his innocence, "Sir, we only want to talk to you." Claire offered.
"…You're a girl?" The voice asked in an unbelieving tone.
Sylar just rolled his eyes, "Yeah, now are you going to let us in?"
The voice seemed to contemplate this, "No!" He said after they waited a few seconds for a response.
Sylar and Claire gave each other a look when they heard retreating footsteps on the other side. Claire nodded to Sylar.
Using his telekinesis, he lifted his finger over the lock then quietly unlocked the double-bolted door and twisted the doorknob slowly. Despite it's appearance, it was relatively unrusty and made no noise.
Claire pulled out her gun carefully and pointed it downwards as they both crept into the foyer of the house. It was basically the same as the outside, old, dirty and unloved. Though she wasn't surprised to see a few stuffed animals that he had probably killed himself.
Sylar didn't bother pulling out his gun; he was deadlier than any weapon anyway. He turned back to Claire who was looking quite terrified and put a finger to his lips motioning for her to move silently. Well duh Sylar, she was going to do that anyway.
He continued to creep down the narrow hallway in search of the deep breaths his acute hearing was picking up. He came up to a small back room that was lit by the mid-morning sun.
Over the far side of said room, stood a fairly short man loading ammo into a gun with his back turned. He looked pointedly at Claire and motioned for her to be quiet again then pointed to the man because he knew she couldn't see past him into the small room. Claire's eyes widened a fraction at the realisation that their target was in the next room.
Taking the opportunity to strike, Sylar rose his arm and pointed his index finger at the man's head. He swished his finger to the left and the man's head did the same. With a sickening crack, Claire could hardly hold back the small gasp that escaped her; she quickly covered her mouth with her hand when Sylar looked at her.
The man's neck was twisted in an unnatural way and the gun he was loading fell to the floor with a thump. Sylar breathed out a sigh at the sight. That man's power would've been useful. Would've made a great addition to his collection. Well, he was dead now and his brain unharmed…perhaps he could just…
Sylar's head whipped round the same time a gunshot went off. But it wasn't Claire's gun, this gun was bigger.
Claire felt several sharp points of pain on her back and upper arms, it felt like just a pressure at first but when the realisation started to sink in that she was shot…she screamed.
Sylar was immediately at her side, hands waving over her in search for something to do.
"I thought you killed him!" Claire yelled while squirming on the floor from the bullets that were now making their way out of her body.
"I did!" Sylar looked round to see the body, just as his eyes had made contact with it's lifeless form, it wavered, like the horizon on a hot day and disappeared before his eyes, "Damnit." He cursed silently.
The blood on Claire's clothes was the only evidence that she had ever been shot. Sylar wrapped his hand around her upper arm and pulled her to her feet and she stood stiffly. Both of their eyes darting round like crazy, but meeting nothing but empty rooms.
Sylar quickly bent down and picked up Claire's gun and handed it to her, eyes never leaving their surroundings.
"C'mon." Sylar began to drag Claire towards the front door, his plan was to put her in the car safely then go back for this son of a bitch.
But just before he could reach out and wrench the door open, the doorknob disappeared; the wood beneath it appearing like it was never there in the first place. A few seconds after the doorknob had disappeared; the wall behind it began to change too. The air around it wavering like he had seen the body do.
He and Claire stepped back a few paces. They turned around only to meet a very different house than the one they had entered. This house was grand. Luxurious.
"What the…?" The question hung in the air after Claire asked it.
They both heard footsteps clacking on the white marble of the floors. They were both looking around manically, but saw nothing. They looked at each other, and at the same time realised the footsteps were not heard at their level. Their eyes travelled to the top of the sweeping staircase only to be stopped by the sight of, what was undoubtedly, Mack.
He was just as the description had said. Short, pudgy, middle-aged. He was wearing what Sylar thought was a butler's suit. The man could create anything he wanted with a thought, and he chose to wear a butler's outfit?
"I gave you a chance to leave." Mack said loudly, and his form wavered and he disappeared.
OMGGG I was sooo going to continue writing this chapter but then I looked and it was a bit long :) ….please don't shoot me :) I'll update asap, which will probably be tomorrow :D but I like reading fanfiction just as much as I like writing it and I wanna read some! XS
i considered like taking away the bit about them two in the bed, but then i realised this is fanfiction and i can do whatever i want :) much love!
I love you :D