Gabe

The Doctor watched Sylar leave. It was disappointing, he seemed to be an interesting man.

He looked at Regina, who was still looking after him. The two of them seemed to have been quite close.

"What do you think shall we have a look around?" He addressed her. He knew she hadn't made up her mind yet, whether she would accompany him or not and still needed time.

And he hoped that she would stay.

Rivers words echoed in his mind.

"Don't travel alone, Doctor."

And Amy had told him the same thing in her afterword for him.

Amy.

Thinking of her and Rory still made him very sad.

"Yes, let´s go."

Regina ripped him out of his thoughts and they left the TARDIS.

It was a bright day in New York.

He saw a newspaper on a bank. The Doctor picked it up.

"Oh. It´s 2005."

"What? What is 2005?"

"It´s the year 2005. We are ten years to early."

She looked at him shocked.

"Are you saying we traveled through time?"

"Yes, sometimes I aim a little wrong. Ten years isn´t even much. Once I…"

"You travel through time accidentally?"

"Like I said, it happens. But mostly I do it on purpose. If you want to, I can show you the future. Or the past. Whatever you want to see."

Regina looked slightly overwhelmed.

"Time travel." He heard her mutter.

"We should look for Sylar. He doesn't belong here."

She nodded.

"And how are we supposed to find him?"

"Don´t you have a trick for this?"

"I would have, but magic doesn´t work here. Or… now."

He shrugged.

"Then we will have to do it the old way. Wait a moment."

With that the Doctor walked in the Tardis. A moment later he came out with a picture of Sylar in his hand.

"The TARDIS has cameras." He explained when Regina looked at him questioningly.

The next twenty minutes they spend with asking people if they had seen him.

At first they had no success but then they addressed a woman who was sitting on a park bench.

She nodded when she saw the picture.

"I think I can help you." She said before turning in another direction.

"VIRGINIA!" She screamed, making them jump a little. Then she returned her attention to the newspaper.

Two woman, about fifty came over looking at them interested.

The Doctor showed them the picture.

"Have you seen him?"

"That´s my son." The woman with the brown hair said. She must be Virginia.

"He looks different than usual. His hair is different." She added.

"Better." The other woman chipped in.

"…And his cloths are different."

"Better."

"…And he isn´t wearing glasses."

"But it´s him?" Regina asked before the other woman could contribute her opinion.

"Yes, for sure. Why are you looking for him? Is Gabriel in trouble?"

So Gabriel was his real name, Sylar was just a title.

He and Regina exchanged a look.

"No, he is fine." He answered.

Virginia nodded relieved.

"He wants to visit me today. If you want to talk to him you can come to me. He will be there in half an hour. He is always so punctual."

She must be talking about the Gabriel in her time. However it was possible that the Sylar they were looking for would want to visit her too.

And where else should they look for him?

"Ok, that´s really nice from you."

Virginia's house was only a few block away from where they had met her. After they had introduced themselves, she kept talking about what a good person Gabriel was. He was so responsible and so, so special and she never had to worry about him because he would never do anything bad. Regina doubted that this was true. At least the man she had met was different. However from what he had told her she believed that he had changed. Most likely they were about to meet him before this change.

For a moment Regina´s thought wandered back to her life, before her mother had ripped out the heart of the men she loved in front of her eyes. She had been so normal. Well, Enchanted Forest- normal. And given who her mother was, what she wanted for Regina…

She pushed the thoughts away. She was who she was.

"Do you want something to drink?" Virginia asked when they sat down in the living room.

"Tea would be fine." The Doctor answered and Regina nodded.

She wondered whether Sylar´s mother had something to do with his change.

After she started heating up the water she sat down opposite from Regina. The Doctor looked around in the room.

"Do you have children?" Virginia asked her.

"Yes, a son." She hesitated a moment.

"He is adopted." She added.

"Does he know?" The other woman seemed curious.

She nodded.

"Gabe is adopted too. He doesn´t know. It doesn´t matter to me. I love him as if he is my own son."

Regina looked at her, surprised for a moment, than she nodded.

With Henry it was the same.

However, when he is the grandchild of the woman you wanted to kill for such a long time, things get a little complicated.

And then she had to think of Snow White, back in the Enchanted Forest, the little girl she had saved, causing so much trouble…

She too, had been like a daughter to Regina or a little sister maybe. At least until she had betrayed Regina…

When Virginia started talking about Gabriel again, Regina got distracted by the Doctor. He had looked at a shelve with snow globes. Seemingly the shelve hadn't stood right in his opinion and his attempts to put it right resulted in it almost falling over. It was only standing because he was holding it, in his hand was a snow globe, which he had caught. While she watched another snow globe fell off. The Doctor managed it to catch it with his foot. He was looking at her slightly in panic, begging her to help him with his gaze. Her magic didn't work, instead she had to fight back a laugh.

She tried to focus on what Sylar´s mother was saying but it was hard to ignore the Doctor.

However, he somehow managed it to push the shelve back into position and put the snow globes back where they belonged. Virginia had obviously heard something, because she turned around, just when he was done.

"Lovely snow globes." He said.

"Thank you, I have the habit to collect them." She answered with a smile.

Before the conversation could go on, there was the sound of a door being opened.

"This will be Gabe." Virginia said. She stood up to greet him.

When she left the room, Regina couldn't help but laugh.

"This is not funny." The Doctor commented slightly offended.

"Oh yes, it is."

The door was opened again and Virginia stepped in, followed by a man.

If she hadn't heard about his change in appearance earlier, she doubted that she would have recognized him. But so she knew that the man who looked like a nerd, was indeed Sylar.

"Gabriel, this are Regina and the Doctor. They wanted to talk to you."

"About what?"

Good question.

Since he wasn't the men they were looking for -not yet- they had nothing to talk to him about.

"This book, where do you have it from?" The Doctor asked, indicating to the blue book with the symbol, Gabriel had under his arm.

"Someone gave it to me. Are you here to talk to me about the book?" Somehow he sounded nervous.

"Well, it´s interesting."

He hold out his hand for it. Reluctantly Sylar- or rather Gabriel- handed it to him.

""Activating Evolution" by Chandra Suresh. Very interesting. I have to admit I don't know much about his work, but… there is more about it than most people think. Have you heard of it?" He turned around.

Regina and Virginia both shook their head.

"It´s very interesting." The Doctor repeated once again, handing the book back to Gabriel.

"Well, if there is nothing else what you want from me, I would go. I have things to do."

Regina and the Doctor exchanged a look.

"I think that was it." He said.

Gabriel nodded relieved and said goodbye rather quick.

After he left, Regina addressed Virginia, who seemed to be slightly confused.

"We don't want to bother you any longer." She stood up.

When they were on the street again, she felt disappointed. This hadn't helped them at all.

The Doctor looked pensive.

"I would like to check something in the TARDIS. Is it fine for you to look for Sylar alone? I will be back soon."

She nodded and he left.

Looking for him wouldn't be easy, since she had no idea where. She decided to go in the park. By now Sylar must have realized that he was in the wrong time, so chances were good that he would find her or would make his way back to the TARDIS.

Regina knew that she should make her decision, but it wasn't easy. She hoped that something would happen that would make it less hard.

Like Sylar.

He knew it when he saw the café in the street his mother had lived in. It had been closed in 2006.

Time travel, why not?

When he asked someone for the date -he got a slightly confused glance- Sylar realized that his mother must still be alive. And this wasn´t the only thing he realized. Some hours ago he had talked to Chandra Suresh for the first time. And this evening he would visit him. Sylar knew what this would result in.

He would be disappointed that he seemed to have no abilities. He would see Brian Davis name on the list, would call him and invite him in his watch-shop. There he would kill him. And so many more. Like his own mother. He would become the monster he was. And all because of Mohinder´s father.

It couldn't be a coincidence that he was here on this exact date.

No, he was here to prevent it from happening. And the easiest way was to simply kill Chandra Suresh. He would kill one more human and save so many lives with it.

Knowing it was the right thing to do, Sylar made his way to the house he knew he stayed in.

After he had waited in front of the house for a few minutes, a car arrived and Dr. Suresh got out. He made his way to the house and walked in, suspecting nothing.

Sylar just wanted to break in the house through the window, when he started getting doubts. If he killed him, would he be able to travel back here when it was time? Even if he would, he would have no reason to kill him. Grandfather-Paradox, Butterfly-Effect. In literature there were many names for this.

And who even was he without his abilities?

Just a normal watchmaker.

Did he really want this?

No.

For a moment he just stood there. Then he made his way back to the TARDIS slowly.

And for some reason he was feeling better.

"Finally, we were looking for you for hours." Regina was relieved to see Sylar.

"I was just… having a look around." He sounded calmer than he had before.

"I suppose you have realized that we are in the wrong time?"

He nodded.

They started walking to the TARDIS.

"I still can´t believe that the Doctor can travel through time so easily." She was still struggling with it.

He just shrugged.

"Why not?"

Regina looked at him surprised.

"That´s no big thing for you, but that the TARDIS is bigger on the inside than on the outside, is hard to believe?"

"Because it´s physically impossible."

"And time travel isn´t?"

"Well…"

They reached the TARDIS and got in.

"I suppose you still want to go back in your time?" The Doctor said. He was standing with his back to them and didn't even turn around.

Sylar hesitated.

Does this mean he wants to stay?

Regina couldn't help but smile, when she looked at him.

She just wanted to ask, but the Doctor had already started to activate the TARDIS.

The noises and the shaking made it hard to talk, so she decided to wait with it till they arrived.

When they finally did, the Doctor immediately addressed Sylar.

"You can get out now." He sounded strange, so cold.

He walked to the door slowly and stopped there.

"Actually, I would like…"

"Did you really think I wouldn't find out?"

Sylar didn't say anything.

"Did you really think that I wouldn't find out that you killed people, many people?"

Again he didn't react.

"Now get out. I can´t let you kill anymore."

"You´re right. But I´m fighting it back. I´m already better." Finally he said something.

"I doubt that this will stay this way. Now get out."

He looked at Regina.

"I don´t know about you, but…"

"I´m not better."

He looked at her surprised. She held eye-contact.

"I´m responsible for many deaths too. But I got better and so can he. Don´t interfere with things that don't concern you."

He took a step towards her and raised his voice.

"Don´t concern me? Do you think the lives of humans don´t concern me?"

"Why are you so obsessed with earth?"

He didn´t respond with anything, but his eyes gleamed dangerously.

Regina turned away and looked at Sylar.

"I won´t leave you alone." She said. He smiled a little.

"Fine, so you will both leave me here."

She knew that on the other side of the door wouldn't be earth. She also knew that if she and Sylar refused to go, the Doctor would have no chance.

And yet they both got out on the abandoned place.

He was right somehow. She had done good things, had helped to defeat Zelena, but when Marian had returned, she was on the best way to become the evil queen again.

When both of them were out of the TARDIS, the door immediately closed and the Doctor left.

She looked around. There were only stones, not even a plant. At least not as far as she could see.

Sylar stepped in front of her, looking in her eyes.

"Thank you." He said. It sounded so honest.

She smiled at him.

They both sat down on a stone, not knowing what to do at this moment.

Eventually they would start looking for a way back to their old, unhappy lives. If it was possible.

But at the moment they just waited.

And then after about half an hour, they heard a familiar sound. They looked at each other, before jumping up.

The TARDIS appeared, exactly where it had stood before.

The Doctor opened the door.

"Come in, we have to talk."

And so they did.