Title: Connecting Roses
Author: Bunny
Rating: T
Disclaimer: Really not mine.

Summary: Post- Let it Bleed. Sylar leaves Claire a trail of breadcrumbs so she will discover what he needs.

A/N: Ugh, this fight scene took me for-ev-a to get the way I wanted. Hope it makes sense!

A/N 2: I have been trying all flipping day to get this up! Guh! Sorry for the delay!

Not pausing to knock, a breathless Claire barged into her dad's apartment. Lauren was looking at Peter's forearm while Noah was clicking away at the laptop. "Claire?"

Focusing on Peter she asked, "How did you beat us? You had like a fifteen second lead."

Scornfully he snorted, "When you're a hoarder of powers you don't have time to completely master all of them."

Noah stood, walking over to his daughter. "What are you doing here?" Glancing at her little black dress he added, "And dressed so nice?"

Confused relief trickled over her as she looked over at her uncle. "Ball's in your court," he shrugged. "But if you don't say anything now, then I will."

"What is going on here?"

"You tricked me," accused Claire.

He again shrugged. "Only seems fair. Where is he anyway?"

"Where's who?"

"I told him to wait outside." She pulled back her hair, suddenly very hot as she anticipated the emotional explosion that was about to occur.

"Told who?" asked Noah, beginning to get frustrated.

Claire sighed, glaring at Peter, before settling back to her dad. "Sylar." Once she said his name, Lauren and her dad moved for their firearms. "He brought me here."

The other woman in the room halted, turning back towards her. Taking in her dressy attire and lack of fear, she understood the implication. "Ooohhh…"

Completely confused, Noah looked between everyone in the room. Peter's infuriated stance and Lauren's frozen demeanor only added to his alarm. No one speaking up made him yell out, "Would someone please tell me what is going on?"

"Go ahead, Claire," goaded Peter. "Tell him."

"Tell me what!"

As certain as she was in her newly admitted love, she couldn't help but waver under her dad's worried gaze. "Sylar – Sylar and I have been…we've been kind of…dating."

The deafening silence hurt.

Peter tisked shuffling over to the window as Lauren covered her mouth with wide eyes.

Noah, however, remained perfectly still.

"Please say something."

He turned away, rubbing his forehead.

"Dad, please."

"Are you completely insane?" His tone was like a stab in her heart. Disgust, anger, pain all wrapped up in four little words. "How could you? With that monster?"

"He's trying to make amends –"

"He has a funny way of showing that," interjected Peter advancing towards her. "Especially after he tried to kill me tonight."

"But he didn't."

"Only because you were there."

"Yes, exactly. He stopped because I asked him to."

"And what happens when you're not there, Claire?" he demanded, shaking with anger. "Are you going to look the other way when he murders someone else?"

"No, that's not what I mean!" She grabbed her head in frustration. She knew this wasn't going to be easy, but Peter kept twisting what she said. Everyone's negative reactions hurt more than she cared to say. What worried her most, though, was how little her dad was saying.

"But you let him look at you and touch you. How can you stand it?"

"Well, which would you be more upset at? Saying I made out my roommate or saying I made out with Sylar, because you know how college can be," Claire argued sarcastically.

"Gretchen?"

"Have you slept with him?" questioned Noah, eerily calm.

"I wouldn't ask that," cautioned Lauren, stepping into the conversation.

"It's fine," Claire assured. "We haven't, no." Her phone began to buzz in her coat pocket, but she ignored it. "But just to let you know, one day you will not like the answer to that question."

"Why don't we deal with this later?" interjected the older blonde. "You came to see us about the compass and Samuel, so why don't we refocus on that –"

Peter cut her off, not done ranting. "Do you believe anyone is going to support you?"

Recalling her grandmother's promise, she answered, "Angela does." Peter snapped his head back as though slapped. The young man wordlessly dropped in a chair. Looking at her dad she continued, "That day we saw her, she told me specifically she supported Sylar and me."

"That long," Noah muttered, his voice still calm, but face etched in rage.

Peter jumped up going to the window. "Where are you going?" Wordlessly he threw it open leaping out into the night. "Peter!"

Her phone buzzing once again, Claire put it up to her ear pressing the talk button. "You have company."

Sylar's serious voice made her click speaker. "Are you sure?"

"I just saw the same man enter your building five times. He hasn't come out yet."

"The multiplier," identified Lauren, grabbing stun guns and cartridges from a black bag.

From the cold anger that had settled in her father's eyes, Claire couldn't help but feel disappointed in herself. It was almost as though he hadn't believed what she had said, but hearing Sylar's voice brought it to reality. Without diverting his attention, he accepted the gun that Lauren handed him. Taking her phone, Noah instructed, "Sylar, an electrical shock to any of the alters will make them disappear. Zap the original, all the alters go."

Hitting the end button, he tossed the mobile back to Claire. She stared at it in disbelief. "You just helped him."

"Greater good, Claire," he said, peeking out the door curtain. "At the moment he is not the biggest threat here."

Throwing the door open wide granted the carnie access to the room. In a blink of an eye, the apartment was filled with five incarnations of the same man. Two appeared behind Lauren's left and right side, one in the doorway by Noah, one just off the Claire's left, and one in the middle of the room. Wasting no time Noah discharged a cartridge into the man before him, Lauren doing the same to the Eli on her left. As the two apparitions faded, they acted to refill their clips.

Lauren was stopped by the other Eli grabbing a hold of her right arm to prevent her from reloading. Throwing a punch in her jaw, the blonde fell to her knees. As he wound up to land another punch, she kicked her high heel directly into his kneecap. When he bent over to grasp his injured knee, Lauren rolled kicking her other heel into the side of his head. Collapsing immediately to the ground, she stood shocking him with the charge. Grinning in success, Lauren yelped as yet another Eli grasped onto her from behind.

While Noah refilled his stun gun, the Eli in the center of the room charged at him. In one impressive move he batted away the weapon and shoved his forearm into Noah's throat, forcing him against the wall. As he struggled, the other man punched him in the side several times. Noah grunted at every blow, eventually managing to pop him in the nose. Releasing Noah he clutched his face, stumbling backwards. Wasting no time Noah grabbed the back of Eli's head slamming it into the table. Papers flew off as Eli bounced off onto the floor, unconscious and disappearing. Adjusting his glasses, Noah turned to retrieve his stun gun only to find another Eli aiming it at him. When the carnie pulled the trigger, he picked up a chair so the shock would be absorbed in the wood. Throwing it down, Noah advanced towards the newest incarnation.

Claire dropped to the ground as her attacker moved to punch her. Reaching down he got a hold of her jacket collar. She tried to pull away from him as he roughly bashed her against the windowsill. Leaning her backwards out the window, Eli also leaned out strangling her with his hands. Though she couldn't feel the pain, her vision began to blur from the lack of oxygen. Unable to breathe Claire clawed at Eli to make him get off, but he wasn't budging. Just before the world went black she reached up to the window, pulling it down with as much force as she could manage. The frame smacked against the back of his neck, causing him to fall down. Coughing as air reentered her lungs Claire slumped onto the floor. Noticing Eli begin stand back up, she grabbed a lamp from a nearby table she slammed it into his head. As that one disappeared, a hand clutched onto her wrist that held the lamp. Claire whipped her head around to find another Eli. He hit her arm against the window which made her drop the lamp. Lifting her up by her jacket lapels, he forced her up along the wall, a satisfied twinge on his face.

Before Eli could do anything more, he fell to the floor. This one did not vanish at her feet, but the alters remaining in the room did.

Sylar stood a few feet away, his hands pointed in her direction and still crackling with electricity. Letting out a thick sigh, Claire straightened her jacket. She sent a relieved smile his way, making him lower his fight stance.

Beginning to smirk back at her, a gun cocked from somewhere in the room. Both looked at Noah who had his firearm aimed at Sylar's head. "Dad! Come on, he just saved us!"

A moan from Eli made Sylar flick a charged bolt on his back. Lauren stepped to the unconscious man. "We need to deal with him first." Noah didn't move, the grip on his gun becoming tighter and tighter. "Noah!" exclaimed Lauren, from her crouched position. "Like you said, who's the bigger threat to deal with at the moment?" Motioning for assistance, Claire helped her lift him up. Reluctantly tucking his gun in its holster, Noah set up a chair.

Taking a belt and several ties, Eli was restrained to a chair, electrical shocks still being sent through his body. "Time to talk," said Noah, sitting in a chair in front of the carnie. "Why are you here?"

"Not answering," he panted, trying to overcome the shocks. Throwing a glare to Sylar, he chuckled, "If you think this is the worst I've been put through, you're dead wrong."

"Why are you here?" asked Noah again.

"No." He hissed as the amperage increased.

Lauren went back to the black bag of holding, extracting a little black case. Opening it revealed a syringe needle and three small vials. "Hold him." His girlfriend held Eli's arm steady as he plunged the needle into his bicep. Looking at his supply, he muttered, "I'm going to need more soon."

As the truth serum worked its way through his veins, Claire shifted her feet, uncomfortable at the potential for torture. Catching Sylar's eye she saw emotion still running through them. She felt at ease knowing that he was still in control of himself. A few moments passed before her father once again asked, "Why are you here?"

Eli struggled to not answer, biting his lips and tensing up. Finally he burst out, "Peter Petrelli."

"Just missed him out the window." Cleaning his glasses, he continued, "Is that because of the compass on his arm?"

Still resisting an answer, Sylar flicked a short bolt onto his thigh. Yelling out, he replied, "Yes! Lydia felt it come up so Samuel sent me to get him."

"Why is he collecting specials?" asked Noah, tone serious.

"I don't know," he conceded through clinched teeth. "Samuel has accepted a lot more people lately. I over hear him talking to Lydia sometimes. He says he's almost got everyone he needs."

Claire stepped forward. "Who else is left?" Her father jumped, obviously forgetting her presence. "You're here for Peter, but who else is there?" Eli started laughing. Furrowing her brow, she asked, "What's so funny?"

"Samuel is mad at you," he taunted, still laughing.

"Why?"

"Because had you actually stayed like he wanted, his top two would be with us now." His head lulled towards the window. "That one so he could have someone to come after and 'save'." He spit the last word sarcastically before lulling his head to Sylar. "And this one so he could have a whore."

Insult burned through Claire's body. Before she could protest Eli's chair toppled over as a result of Sylar punching him in the face, snapping his nose to the side.