Author's Note: I've decided that I needed to write/post something, anything at this point. The problem is I've kind of lost my inspiration to write for Heroes. I can't even bring myself to watch the show since it came back. (As in, I'm still working on "Let it Bleed.") But still, I've been working really hard to get something done here. This was originally only the first half of the chapter, but I don't know how much longer it's going to take me to work out the kinks in the next part, so I'm posting it now, and splitting the chapter into two parts. So, yeah, it's pretty short.

Chapter 7

Eventually, Elle did not have any choice but to work on the research. She had combed through all the other buildings, and there was nothing left to distract her from her real reason for being there. Originally, her work had mostly consisted of compiling the data in a more comprehensive way and plugging numbers into formulas. Now, they were at a point where Mohinder was forced to go through the files and films he had been avoiding, and her new job was to go through them first, as a sort of screening process.

Mohinder did not come right out and say that he was worried about what he might find. He told her that he just wanted her to look through to see if those particular pages and reels had anything of note in them. Since she was not a scientist in any way, and thus not qualified to determine what was of note, Elle was able to understand that what he really wanted was to be shielded from anything his father had done that was truly horrible. And since that was the first thing here for which she was actually qualified, Elle started to enjoy her work a little more. There was still very little she had not seen before. As a young teen with nothing else to do, she had spent a lot of time on the containment levels, fascinated by all the things people were capable of.

In her several weeks at Coyote Sands, Elle had never once come across the name Robert, Bob, or Bobby Bishop in any of the files, and there were no films about him. A couple times, though, she caught glimpses of her impossibly young father in the background. She had spent a lot of time grappling with what her father had supposedly done to her, but when she stopped the reel to freeze on the one really good shot of his face, none of that seemed to matter.

Mohinder came in to find her standing in front of the screen, staring at her father's face. Elle could sense his presence in the room, but she did not turn around. She wanted to ask Mohinder what he felt every time his own father came on screen, but she knew that she shouldn't. His father was a sore spot that was rubbed raw every day in this place. "That's my dad," she said, just in case Mohinder did not recognize him. She kept her eyes on the screen as she said the next part. "I know that he wasn't the best father in the world. He was distant and disapproving. But he was the only one I had, and he really wasn't that horrible, in hindsight. And I know that he really did love me, in his own way."

Elle heard Mohinder sigh behind her. She knew that she had not exactly been subtle with that. She just figured that since the research had started to stagnate, she should try to find another way to help people, or at least one person in particular. She finally turned to look at Mohinder. "Did you really come here just for the research or was part of it to feel closer to your father? Because if it was, I get that."

Mohinder looked up at the screen, and even though Chandra Suresh was not on it, Elle could tell that he was thinking about her question. He sat down in a chair. "I don't know. I needed to find a way to reconcile what I am and what I've done with... with who I thought I was."

That reminded Elle of other questions she had. "And just out of curiosity, how are you going to reconcile it, if you never talk about what you've done?"

He considered this, but in the end, Mohinder had the exact reaction Elle expected; he ignored her. "So, do you have anything new for me?"

Elle took this to mean that he was commandeering the projector. That was fine with her since it was time for her to head into town for lunch anyway. She nodded her head at the stack of three reels sitting in front of him. "Those were interesting." She took down the one with her father and put it back in its canister. "This one, not so much," she said wiping her hands on her jeans. "What do you want for lunch?"

He told her that he just wanted "the usual." Elle went out to the rental car with a strange feeling that progress had been made. It was true that he still was not talking about what he was thinking, but she had come to accept that as just his way. She was not sure if it was just his nature to keep things inside or if it was something about her in particular, but she did not let it bother her. When she thought about it, they had still not discussed either of the two kisses they shared, both initiated by her. It had been another couple weeks since that second one. Maybe it was time to work on that project again.

At first, Sylar would fade in and out of Parkman's mind. He would get maybe a half hour of being able to see Parkman's life and feel Parkman's movements, and then he would lose time. Over the next week or so, Sylar worked on figuring out what was happening to him and gaining control of his new environment. With time, he was able to recapture vague memories of Parkman forcing him out of his own body, but he had no recollection of what had happened to that body.

Eventually, Sylar was able to make Parkman aware of his presence. When it started, he still could not control the body, but he had learned to manipulate the other man's mind, and it was only a matter of time at that point. A week more, and it finally happened. He was able to push Parkman completely out of the body for a short stretch of time, long enough to make a point.

Author's Note: First off, I don't intend to abandon this story. That said, if I do end up abandoning it, I promise to post a notice on my profile page and personally message everyone who has Hurts Me Too on alert, kind of like an anti-alert. (And that is not just me trying to boost that number, which right now is very manageable.)