Here it is, Chapter 11. This one has been so much fun to write. Hope you guys like it. Thanks for all the lovely reviews and being so patient with me. You all spur me on so much, you rock!

Chapter 11

"Where are we?" Claire asked, her eyes scanning her surroundings. They were in some kind of parking lot surrounded by offices maybe? Or something that looked akin to motel rooms. The air was dry and the sun was setting. It felt as though they were in the middle of nowhere.

"Good question" before Claire could extract an explanation, Sylar gone in the direction of what appeared to be some kind of reception office. She let him get a few paces ahead before following him into the dank smelling chalet.

"What is it now sugar?" a short stocky woman behind the counter croaked, hardly moving her eyes from the news paper in front of her.

"Errm... I was wondering if we could book a room?" he inquired inquisitively, something told him he knew where he was. If he was right, fate had one hell of a sense of humor. As if by reflex Claire smacked his arm, "What the hell do you think you're doing?" but before he could answer the woman behind the desk put down her news paper.

Shooting him a disgruntled but friendly look she exclaimed, "But you have a room, you's were in here just fifteen minutes ago. You're in room 13 already!"

"No we weren't?" Claire's eyebrows arched so high Sylar thought they might spring clean off of her head.

"Yes you were honey. Glad to see y'all have cooled off some too, I thought I was gonna have to call out fire brigade!" the woman chuckled in Claires direction and gave her a not so subtle wink, "Not that I can say I blame you" she added glancing in Sylars direction.

With a devastatingly charming smile Sylar interjected, "Could we book out room 14 too? We can pay in advance." he dug in his pocket retrieving his wallet. The woman stared back confused but relented uttering something about them being a strange couple of kids under her breath. She handed over the keys to room 14 and wished them a pleasant stay.

Claire stepped tentatively into room 14, "Oh my God, could you have found anywhere nastier? You have the power to travel through time and space and you bring me HERE?" Claire was just settling into her tirade when her voice became drowned out by the sound of the people in the next room. It was no surprise the walls were paper thin but these voices...were familiar.

"Jesus Claire did you spray these jeans on this morning?" a dark rumbling voice bellowed through the walls, followed by the song of girlish giggling, "well, I'm sure you have some kind of power tucked away somewhere that would get them off..." did she know that voice? " You bet I have babydoll!" and she certainly knew that one!

Her attention was drawn to the now very smug, very amused Sylar who had laid himself out on the creaky motel bed, his hands tucked behind his neck and his feet hanging off the end.

"What the hell? Are you about to tell me that that is us?" Claire gasped, raising her hand in the direction of the joining wall. Sylar opened his mouth to confirm her suspicions but was once again cut short by the voices from the next room, "Oh my God, baby that's so good, please don't stop!" There really was no denying that was Claire's voice, all be it an octave higher than it usually was. With that Sylar threw his head back and let out a loud satisfied laugh.

"You'll have drugged me, or used some ill gotten power to make me comply with you! You're attacking me!" she ran over to the telephone by the bed where he was sprawled. All the time the erotic noises from next-door flooded the otherwise silent room.

"Yeah, really sounds like I'm doing that against your will doesn't it Claire?" Sylar reasoned as a constant banging began in an obscene rhythm, the headboard from the next room colliding with their adjoining wall.

Eyes pinned on him, Claire raised the phone to her ear and dialed for reception, "Hello...yes, this is room 14. Could you please check on room 13? I think there may be a woman in distress." Claire cringed as Sylar buried his face in a battered motel pillow and howled with laughter. "...yes I think you should check to see if she needs any help". As if on cue the banging on the wall picked up pace, the voices giving way to animalistic moans and groans. Claire replaced the handset as Sylar held his ribs trying to compose himself, "Needs any help?" he mimicked her, "Sounds like we're doing just fine to me Babydoll!" he choked out the words between chuckles.

Claire dropped herself on the bed next to him; shoulders slumped in a posture that suggested defeat. She gave him an irritated sideways look, "Don't call me that". Propping himself up on one arm, almost curling himself around her body he smiled warmly, "Why not, it's your nickname?"

Claire looked down at him, in the dim light of the dingy motel room he didn't seem the least bit threatening, a long strand of hair hung down over his deep expressive eyes and his lips were pursed in an almost goofy manner. Moments like these always threw her, it was so easy to see him as some 2D monster but when he was sat beside her like that he was just a man, which in turn made her feel like just a woman.

For a few seconds they just looked at each other. Ironically the moment was broken by the couple in the room beside them who were clearly a little further on in their courtship, the sounds now had descended into a stream of profanities, "Fuck...oh...my...God. Gabriel!" Claire felt her skin flushing in an embarrassed glow; she bit down hard on her lip.

"Oh Claire, so...good...Jesus...Christ!" Surprising himself Sylar found he too grew embarrassed; his reaction was to laugh like a school boy. Without thought he hid his face, pressing it flat against Claire's arm. Claire did not pull away but joined him in childish laughter. Their joviality did not cease until the sounds echoing from the next room had stopped.

They both lay side by side on the bed, not touching but more comfortable in one another's company than ever before. Claire turned her head slightly and looked at the figure besides her, "This place kinda reminds me of this lame vacation my Dad took us on when I was a kid..." Claire began her story,"...it was Christmas eve and my Dad had this big plan of taking us to Disney land for the Christmas parades. It was kind of a big deal because up until then he had always had to work at Christmas" she spoke quietly into the moonlit room. Sylar marveled at how relaxed she looked, laying there right next to him, "So what happened?" he prompted.

"My Dad insisted we stopped off at this particular diner, I remember it had to be that specific diner. He made some excuse about the waffles being the best in the state but...when we returned to our car the it wouldn't start..." a slow realisation crept over Claire, it had never occurred to her before. She had never pieced together the fragments of that childhood memory. "...so we ended up renting out a motel room. My Mom wanted to rent out a couple, you know so we weren't all cramped up together but my Dad said he wanted us all together" she cleared her throat to cover up her breaking voice,"...I always thought it was because he wanted us to be together at Christmas, that that was all that mattered to him...but that wasn't his reason was it?" she sounded fragile. He wanted so badly to reach out to her, but if she rejected him now he knew it would break him, even more than all of the times before.

"No...but he was probably trying to protect you Claire, your father loves you...you're lucky." She scoffed at Sylars reasoning but quickly realised what he meant, she had often wondered about his parents but never had the opportunity or nerve to ask about them.

"What about your Dad, you're adopted right?" Claire held her breath as the words left her, worried that maybe this was a step too far.

Turning towards her a little more he took a shallow breath, "Sold" The word hung in the air.

"Sold?" Claire repeated the word back at him as a question.

"Yeah, I wasn't adopted, I was sold." his tone was so matter of fact, but she could sense a tense undercurrent. "My father, my real father he sold me and then killed my mother. I think I was about five or six" his voice trailed off as he made the connection in his mind that he was about Noah's age when he lost his mother. The comparison brought home just how vulnerable he had been and the pain he thought was dead welled up once more in his gut. He was shook from his turmoil by the feeling of Claire's pinky finger brushing lightly against the back of his hand.

"Oh my God...poor boy." he knew she was referring to the child he once was, but the feeling of her skin voluntarily against his sent a much needed spark of hope shooting through him.

They remained silent for a few moments, listening to the sound of one another's steady breathing. Sylar was close to drifting to sleep when Claire's voice roused him, "Are we good parents?" he let her question roll around his head for a split second, before turning to face her, moving gradually closer to her on the ill fitting bed.

"In the future I mean, you mentioned a son. Are we good parents to him?" she continued. She rolled her eyes as Sylar unleashed a smile that would have made the sun squint. She knew all too well that, that last sentence had been surrender. She was finally beginning to believe him.

"His name's Noah and we're great parents. You're an amazing Mom, really...the best." the sincerity in his voice blew her away. She grinned back at him, "Tell me about him, what's he like?"

Claire's sudden excitement and curiosity about their son illuminated Sylar to the point that he was beaming, every inch the proud Dad,"He's perfect Claire, he's just the most perfect little guy in all creation" he raved.

Without thought Claire grabbed a hold of his hand intertwining her fingers with his in an effort to bring him back down to earth, "Of course he is, but you know…what is he like? Is he like you or like me? What's he in to? Is he short like me or tall like you?" She knew she was babbling but suddenly she felt like she needed to know.

Grinning like an idiot Sylar propped himself up with his free hand, "Well for a start he's six, from what I could gather he likes Spiderman and, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe."

"Oh I love that book!" Claire gripped on to his hand a little tighter.

Sylar nodded in agreement, "I know, me too. I'm reading it to him…well future me is. And he kinda looks like me, but he has your skin" he rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand as though examining it closely.

When he looked up Claire was staring back in wonder at him, he'd never seen that look on her face before but he knew he sure as hell liked it.

"Gabriel…" she whispered, his name sounding alien coming from her lips.

"Yeah?" he returned.

"Take me to him? I wanna see him, just once."