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

Chapter 7

Claire refused to meet Sylar's eyes, but she could still feel his own on her. And she couldn't stop thinking about what he'd said. To be normal again. To feel…

There were so many things she wanted to feel…

Claire jumped as her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Busy morning."

Rolling her eyes at Sylar (she just didn't have the energy to muster up yet another nasty look), Claire dropped her plate in the sink on her way to the door.

The way her morning was going, she wasn't surprised at all by who was standing on the other side of the door.

Claire frowned at her uncle, turned silently on her heel, walked to her bedroom and shut the door. She just couldn't deal with anymore patronizing, non-helpful men today. Flopping on a bed that still smelled of Sylar, Claire buried her head in her arms, trying to block out the voices coming from the next room.

"Gabriel! Good to see you!"

"Peter."

"So how are things going here with Claire. Has she warmed up yet?'

Claire was sure she hurt a snort from the next room. "Warmed up? It was warmer on the titanic." Sylar sighed. "She hates me Peter. I fear this may be a lost cause."

"Nah. If I came around, Claire will. She's just young, that's all. And she has had kind of a rough time of it…"

A rough time? Being stalked and tortured by a murderer, who then killed her father. And then that same murderer moving into her home? Not to mention the issues with the carnival, the government, her powers, and her school, and now her family trading her to that same murderer who made her life such a living hell? He called that A ROUGH TIME?

Geez, thought Claire. So nice of her uncle to notice. Claire sunk even further into her sulk.


Gabriel lowered his voice so Claire couldn't hear the conversation. Even though she'd gone into the next room, he knew she'd been listening. And he didn't want her to hear what he said next.

"A rough time that I caused. Why do you think she will forgive me for that? Hell, I wouldn't forgive me for that."

"Because I know you, Gabriel. And I know that if you've got anything, its tenacity. You'll wear her down. And I also know how you feel about her."

Gabriel frowned. He didn't want to just "wear her down," and he really didn't like Peter knowing his secrets. But then, Peter had been his only confidant for five years. Still, he'd never told Peter about his feelings for Claire. Mostly because Gabriel still wasn't sure what those feelings were. It bothered him though that Peter, just by using Parkman's power, could see in his head in an instant what Gabriel had managed to keep hidden, even from himself, for over five years. And worse yet, he suspected Parkman knew it too. God knows what he'd seen when he'd went rummaging around in Gabriel's head.

He really hated Parkman.

"My feelings toward Claire are ambivalent at best." Gabriel replied. He refused to admit anything further. Not even to his best friend.

"Whatever." Peter smirked. He obviously wasn't buying it. "Just so you know though, I've thought about asking Parkman to burn some of the images I saw in your head out of my brain. She's my niece. I really don't need those kinds of mental images of her floating around in my own head.

Goddamntelepaths! Gabriel glared at Peter. Perhaps now was a good time for his 'friend' to leave…

Gabriel's thoughts were interrupted by Claire opening the door. Inwardly he smiled, but made sure the emotion never reached his face. Apparently her curiosity had gotten the better of her and she'd decided to quit sulking and grace them with her presence.

He watched as Claire approached her uncle, and his gaze turned into a smirk created by a mixture of amusement, pride and vengeance as she kicked Peter right in the shin. Hah! That's my girl!

"Damn it Claire! What'd you do that for?" Peter shouted as he clutched at his leg.

"Oh, like you don't know!"

Claire ignored Sylar's amused expression as she took a seat on the floor, her back against the wall directly across from the couch full of annoying men.

"Geez Claire. Not even a hug for your uncle? I've missed you." Peter put on his best hurt look.

"Why don't you hug your best friend there? You know. The murderer who cut open my head? The guy sitting right next to you?"

"Huh? Oh, Gabriel? Don't worry. I already did." Peter grinned at his niece. He could tell he was annoying her, but if he could show her how comfortable he was around Gabriel, maybe it would give the guy a fighting chance with her.

Claire looked like she might vomit. Oh god. They really were best friends, weren't they? Unless Sylar had done something to Peter…?

"Now Claire" Peter continued… "I know what you're thinking… but no, Gabriel didn't do anything to me." He ignored her look of disbelief… "Look, that's why I'm here. To convince you that he's changed. I know you're father talked to you already, but I thought it might be better if you heard it from me…"

Heard what? That her uncle had turned into some kind of serial-killer loving douche? And to think that he used to be her hero…

"Heard what? That my loving family has traded me to a murderer for the sake of convenience?" She sneered.

Peter sighed, turned to his friend and shrugged. "Sorry Gabriel. I tried, but I don't think she's ready to listen to me yet either. I think you've got your work cut out for you…"

Silently, Gabriel thought the same thing, but frankly, he was starting to get a little annoyed by Claire's attitude. Was he really that bad?

"Peter. You can't seriously leave me here alone with him." Claire tried out of desperation, quickly shifting tactics when she realized that her last chance at salvation was slipping from her fingers. Peter was her last chance to get out of this mess. He HAD to see reason….

"Face it Claire. You're stuck with me. Not even your dear uncle Peter will save you now." Sylar folded his hands in his lap, looking far too smug for Claire's comfort.

Peter shot Sylar a disgusted look, but Sylar just shrugged. "Claire, you may not believe me now, but someday you'll forgive me. You'll probably even thank me. I promise you." Peter rose from the couch and reached for her, probably to try to draw her into a hug, but Claire would have none of it. Seeing her salvation crumble to dust before her eyes, Claire jumped up and away from her uncle's reach, ran back to her room and slammed the door behind her.

"Don't count on it." She whispered.


"Well, that certainly didn't go well." Peter turned to Gabriel. "You could have been more helpful, you know. Nicer perhaps?"

Nicer? Gabriel knew that "nice" would never win Claire over. Claire was a girl who thrived on conflict and angst. "Nice" would just get him tossed into the castoff pile, along with all of her other rejects.

Besides, when he was still trying on "good," "nice" was a mighty tall order.

"On the contrary, Peter. I think that went fabulously." Gabriel leaned back into the couch, a self satisfied look on his face.

Peter raised an eyebrow at Gabriel.

"You know how much I've always enjoyed the chase. This is going to be fun!"