Chapter Ten

Family, Friends, & another Unexpected

A/N: here we will see the entrance of an original character. Please let me know what you think of her. She is not really a self-insert. She looks kind of like me, and her family and circumstances are based on mine, but her personality is different. Her hometown's name is a fabrication because I'm not telling you where I live. I may end up using some of last week's episode, Four Months Ago, as I see fit. Chuck is on in 3 minutes must dash!

Emma Bailey is a normal American girl. Though she does well in school, and has her aspirations, she is the epitome of normalcy. She is of average height and has golden brown hair and eyes. She wears size 12 jeans and 8 ½ shoes. There is nothing extraordinary about Emma Bailey. Oh, except for that seeing through walls thing, that's definitely not normal. She never in her wildest dreams expected to be bestowed with this amazing gift. She never told anyone. She had no one to tell. When Emma first noticed her power, she prayed constantly for the next few days. She asked God to help her understand why she had this gift, what He wanted her to do with it, or if it was even from Him. She decided she would have to wait for God to show her what to do. After a few weeks, she got a letter from some people calling themselves the "Company." They said they could help people like her who had unusual abilities. She decided to go to their headquarters and see how they could help. Not so unfortunately, she was deterred by another "Sight." Only this time she saw through space to a street in Ireland. There she saw people doing strange things; abnormal things, things like those that she did. She gave it no second thoughts; she just went. She got on a plane and left her school in California without notifying a single soul. Emma Bailey was not an exceptional person, until now.

H H H H H H H H

Noah Bennett was unsociable on the flight to Ireland. When he got on the plane there was only one seat left next to a chattering college student. He was sure she meant well, but he wanted to throw her out the window. She asked where he was going, said she was going to visit friends, and generally drew too much attention from the surrounding Homo sapiens. He finally decided talking to her would be better than listening. He sensed she was nervous and that's why she was so voluble.

"Where did you say you were going?" Noah asked. The girl was quiet for a moment having not expected him to be vocal. Finally, she said,

"Cork, to visit friends. How about you?"

"Oh, I'm on a business trip. Not very exiting. You say you're going to Cork?"

"Yeah, have you been there?"

"No, just heard of it. How do you know your friends?"

"I met them at school in California. They called a couple of days ago and said they had some time off this week if I wanted to come for a visit." Noah fell silent again. "So what is your business?" the girl tried to get the conversation going again.

"Paper," he said shortly, "I sell paper. It's like I said, not very exiting."

"Well I hope you have some minor excitement before you go home."

"Thanks."

H H H H H H H H

Back in Cork, the mood was anomalous. Ricky seemed unwitting as to whom he was welcoming to the Wandering Rocks. That is until he saw the expression on Peter and Caitlin's faces. He decided it was his cue to leave the room and let Peter have his reunion. He nudged Caitlin as he headed to the kitchen.

"Come on sis," he said, "we have things to do." Caitlin followed his lead and went to check on the "prisoner." Nathan took a step forward, detaching himself from the group.

"Do you remember anything, Pete?" He asked.

"No," Peter said sadly, "Did you always call me Pete?"

"Yes, Mom didn't like it."

"I recognize you and Claire from the pictures, but I don't know any of them." He gestured toward the others. They each introduced themselves and said how they knew Peter, if they did. The reunion did not have the sentimental connotation some had come to hope for, but Peter found it very informative. As the evening wore on Caitlin brought hot food for the weary travelers. After noticing Molly's sleepiness, Caitlin offered to take the girl to her house to sleep. Matt and West went with them. Ricky stayed behind to guard the prisoner and keep Peter out of trouble. As the night wore on, the conversation never lagged. Peter heard his life story, plus some useless trivia, in about four hours. When Nathan concluded with flying Peter away from the city, every one was silent.

"So, no one knows where I was for four months?" Peter finally asked. Ricky brought everyone a cup of coffee.

"Well, you can't have been in that storage container," he said, sitting down, "I checked on our other guest. He's still out."

"Other guest?" Claire said with an air of nervousness in her voice.

"Oh, don't worry yourself about that. Another bash on the head and he'll be out for four months."

"Who is he?" Mohinder asked.

"Some crazy guy who tried to blast my friend's brains out." Ricky showed them Peter's bloody shirt. Claire smiled to herself. She knew what it was like to need new clothes all of the time.

H H H H H H H H

Emma sat alone on the bus ride to Cork. She wondered what would happen when she found the flying people. She wondered if they would be able to help her or if they would want to hide their power. She decided to forget about it until she got there. She thought about her first impressions of Ireland. She was glad everyone spoke English because she was hopeless when it came to foreign languages. The countryside was just as beautiful as she had imagined. As she watched the rolling green hills go by, she was reminded of eastern Washington in the spring. Her hometown of Clarksville, Washington was surrounded by hills. Every spring she would remark on how it looked like Ireland. Now she saw for herself that she was right. With these thoughts pervading in her head, she fell asleep.

H H H H H H H H

Gabriel was intensely annoyed. My name is Gabriel, isn't it? He thought. Yes, I'm Gabriel until I get my power back, then I'll be Sylar again. He continued babbling incoherently in his head, all the while trying to free his hands from the bonds, which so rudely encircled them. However, it seemed the harder he struggled, the more trapped Gabriel became. He quickly became frustrated and let out a cry of despair. He heard someone enter the room and tried to turn his head, but it hurt too much. He heard the man raise his arm.

"Don't!" Gabriel shouted, recoiling as much as he could.

"Why?" The Irish man asked, resting his 2x4 on Gabriel's shoulder

"I don't know. You have every reason to, but I can only ask."

"We'll let Peter decide what to do with you." With that, the man left the room, allowing Gabriel to maintain consciousness for the time being.

H H H H H H H H

When the bus stopped in Cork, Noah Bennett found a familiar face sleeping by a window. He shook her awake and was shocked by the brightness of her eyes. She had been sleeping for hours, but she was completely alert.

"What are you doing her, Mr. Paper Salesman?" She asked.

"Making sure you get off at your stop," he replied. Emma grabbed her backpack and stood.

"Well, thanks, but really, what are you doing here?"

"I don't really sell paper," he said as they stepped off the bus.

"What was your first clue?" she joked. "I knew that. People don't go to Ireland to sell paper. I'm Emma Bailey, and I'm not here to visit friends either."

"Noah Butler. I'm looking for someone here and it is very complicated." Emma stood still on the sidewalk. She got a far away look in her eyes.

"Everyone's life is complicated; they just don't know it yet." Noah tried to understand what she meant, but her cryptic manner didn't change.

"Would you like to get breakfast?" He asked, changing the subject.

"Sure, I heard there's a great place called the Wandering Rocks. It's just around the corner."

Chapter 11 is in the oven :)