I don't own Heroes

I apologize profusely for the time it took me to post this chapter. I must admit that I have been sucked into watching Lost from the beginning...among other pressing matters. I will post the next chapter as soon as possible. Enjoy!!!

Chapter 14

Olivia's eyes moved spastically between the two men. The distinctive look on Sylar's face as he remained planted in front of her was one she didn't need an ability to interpret. A mixture of fierceness and disquiet narrowed his eyes and set his jaw. It was a guise she couldn't recall having seen on him up until that point. And yet still she was not scared, not like she knew she ought to have been. All things considered she felt more than safe at the moment, it was a luxury she hadn't experienced in a very long time, one she felt she owed to the man in front of her. Sylar's presence seemed to have the opposing affect on her as it had on Peter. He remained static, sporting a mask of repugnance, hands balled into fists so tight his knuckles were white, almost certainly holding his breath, and not to mention the thick waves of hostility that rolled off of him inducing in her a rather unwelcome queasiness.

She grasped for anything to break the tremendously unpleasant silence. "Peter? Like the one who isn't your friend, Peter?" She calmly directed at Sylar.

He opened his mouth to answer but Peter beat him to the punch. "What did he tell you about me?" Sounding a bit more forceful than he anticipated.

At that Sylar turned slowly around to face him. "What do you want, Peter?" He spit the name out like saying it offended him.

Peter had to inhibit himself from reacting with and equal amount of antipathy since doing so would impede any attempt at recruiting Sylar to his cause. He needed him docile, not wound up…he needed Gabriel; he needed to appeal to whatever integrity there might be left in him. Peter looked inquisitively at the woman figuring she must have been at the diner with Sylar, the one Lauren assumed had been a stranger to him prior to the incident. He still couldn't help but wonder why, if she was unacquainted with him at the time, would she have offered assistance to someone who, for all she knew, was a very dangerous person. Especially one who Peter had gotten the impression scared the customers more than the men with the guns…unless his ability didn't scare her because it wasn't anything she hadn't seen before…unless she had an ability too. It almost made him want to smile, knowing that people were coming together, however unintentional, to fight the enemy, even if one of the people was Sylar.

"You were at the diner together." Peter said looking at Olivia, completely ignoring Sylar's inquiry.

Sylar moved to block Peter's view of Olivia entirely when she placed what was meant to be a reassuring hand on his arm. As soon as she felt his tension crawling up her arm like a vine with a mind of its own she decided to abandon all concern for any inauspicious reaction he might have toward her using the empathy. She instantly assumed a feeling of calm and pushed it into him. He appeared much more relaxed, but not wanting to clue Peter into the fact that anything had changed he shot only a bothered look over at Olivia instead of scolding her as soon as she stepped up next to him.

"How do you know anything about the diner?" Sylar finally asked.

"I was there, talked to the waitress." Peter responded, not missing a beat.

"Oh yeah, Minnie Mouse. I'm glad she had an interesting story to tell. So what, you're following me Peter? I didn't think that was really your style, watching from the shadows. Better yet, how did you even know I was alive? I was under the amusing impression that no one knew I was alive." Sylar was beginning to find the sarcastically friendly groove he loved being in.

That wasn't to say he was wholly vacated of concerns. Peter's sudden unexpected appearance flustered Sylar's already perturbed state of mind. He needed a way making sense of things, and find out what Peter was up to. 20 questions was the only way he could see going about it without using intuitive aptitude, which would have been a very bad thing if Olivia accidently absorbed it. His other problem was the need to keep Peter from saying anything that might disturb Olivia, anything about his previously ongoing behavior. He needed to keep a cool head and was suddenly thankful that Olivia had disregarded his instruction to keep a lid on the empathy.

"My mother told me you were alive. She had a dream, you were in it." Peter answered plainly.

"Angela." Sylar hissed with so much venom Olivia could almost taste it.

"And I wasn't following you; I was trying to find you and just happened to pick up your trail. The truth is…I need your help." Peter leaned against the edge of the counter ignoring Sylar's inauspicious reaction toward his mother.

Olivia noted Sylar's genuinely surprised expression at Peter saying he was intentionally seeking him out for his help. She wasn't as stunned by it since she considered that with his abilities he certainly could be very helpful in any number of situations.

Sylar on the other hand was left searching for what to say in response. He was flabbergasted, to say the least, and fully had not expected those to be the words to come out of Peter's mouth. He assumed it would be something more along the lines of 'vengeance for what you did to Claire'…again…but it wasn't.

"And what could you possibly want my help for?" Sylar tried to sound as uninterested as possible, but feared he failed miserably.

Peter was encouraged by Sylar choosing to engage in the conversation and the fact that he had yet to attack him. What was even more promising in Peter's eyes was the way he had moved to protect the woman with a sort of chivalrous exploit, although he also could assume he was protecting her so he could steal whatever ability she possessed at some point in the near future. Peter chose to believe the aforementioned motivation as opposed to the latter simply because he needed this to work out. The fact that she didn't seem at all frightened of him meant little, since Peter knew well of Sylar's ability to turn on the charm when necessary. Peter had been preparing himself for a fight, but it seemed he had finally caught a bit of a lucky streak.

"Sylar, those were government agents after you in the diner." Sylar just looked at Peter like he wasn't sure where he was going with this. "They aren't after just you…they're after all of us, even innocent people."

Sylar scoffed. "Makes sense, they were bound to catch word of us sooner or later. I'm surprised it didn't happen a lot earlier, the way the company let things get so…out of control sometimes."

"The government!" Olivia exclaimed from Sylar's left side.

Both men were startled by her sudden joining of the conversation and turned their eyes to her. Sylar could see right away that she wasn't fully in control of herself and upon touching her shoulder could feel the vibrations of fear that were escaping her hold.

"Olivia…" Sylar started.

"I'm running from the government!? This is a joke right, you're joking!" She looked between Sylar and Peter with pleading eyes.

"Olivia!" Sylar shouted at her to get her attention while grabbing her by the shoulders. "You already knew you were being chased, what difference does it make who's doing the chasing. Just calm down." Her moment of panic subsided, making Sylar sort of appreciate his new role as the voice of reason.

"Is she ok?" Peter took a few steps forward, his hand outstretched in a non threatening manner.

"She's fine." Sylar shot back without hesitation. "Come on, let's sit down." He suggested to Olivia.

She nodded in agreement and led the way out of the kitchen to the couch in the living room. She brushed an old magazine onto the floor and sat down as she nervously began chewing her thumb nail. Sylar sat down next to her and Peter remained standing, shifting agitatedly from one foot to the other.

"Sylar, should we be here…" Peter questioned as he looked toward the front door.

"It's fine, nobody will come back here for a while I'm guessing." His attention was still on Olivia who now seemed the picture of composure.

He raised his eyebrows to her, silently asking about her state of mind.

"I'm fine, sorry." She whispered to him.

Sylar shook his head waving off the apology. Once he was convinced that Olivia retained control of herself he turned his attention back to Peter. "So, when did you plan on explaining to me what it is exactly that you were hoping to get me to do Peter? You know how giving a person I am." Sylar smirked at him.

"Nathan." Was all Peter said.

Both men suddenly took on a somber appearance. This caught Olivia's attention immediately since having felt nothing but a highly charged atmosphere of emotion since they had entered the house.

"Isn't Nathan your brother?" She inquired of Peter.

Neither Peter nor Sylar answered her at first, Sylar frowning at Peter, and Peter returning the look.

"Yeah, he's my brother." Peter finally admitted.

"You probably know him as Senator Nathan Petrelli." Sylar added disgusted.

"Your brother…is Senator Petrelli from New York?" Olivia asked calmly, but not without a hint of reverence. "You didn't say he was a Senator." She lightly accused Sylar.

"Yeah." Peter answered with almost as much contempt as Sylar, but with a little sadness at the same time.

Everyone sat quiet for a moment as each of them let sink in the information they had just been presented with. Sylar more than anyone couldn't believe he had just walked into the situation just moments after resolving to lead Olivia down a different path than the one he had traveled. At the time he hadn't been sure what path that was exactly, but it was now becoming blindingly obvious.

Sylar was the one to break the silence. "I'm guessing we owe our thanks to your brother for having started this thing?"

Peter nodded.

"And you came to find me…for my help with what, stopping him?" Sylar asked sarcastically.

"They're rounding us up, without prejudice, and shipping us off to some containment facility. At least the company only went after the most dangerous of us, people like…"

"I'm well aware of who the company's favorite targets were Peter." Sylar interrupted before Peter could finish.

Sylar could feel Olivia's eyes on him. This whole exchange with Peter was definitely going to cost him at least an hour of sleep later on as it would mean a ton more questions from her that he really didn't want to answer, but it was too late now.

"Look, as much as it loathes me to have to do this…you are the strongest of us; you are the one nobody can catch. You've proven that time and time again. Nathan isn't going to stop, and he isn't the only one involved. There's a man named Danko who was brought on to assist Nathan with the project. He has military background and from what I know he is unyieldingly devoted to making sure their plan succeeds. I can't fight them alone...neither can you…and neither can anyone else. Not without help." Peter was beginning to sound very convincing to Olivia. He really believed in what he was saying, she could feel that much.

"And let me guess, you've volunteered to lead the crusade." Sylar provoked.

"I have a responsibility…we all do…including you." Peter defended.

Sylar chuckled. "Always the martyr, aren't you Peter."

"Why, are you gonna do it?" Peter glared at him.

Olivia thought Peter looked as if he was waiting for something to happen, but she couldn't even venture a guess as to what. She looked to Sylar, not sure what she was hoping to find. His expression betrayed very little of what he was thinking or feeling and she was just too unsettled to try and get a read on him. Peter's harsh tone and antagonizing words aggravated a sense of growing defensiveness for Sylar, and felt she needed to interject.

"Hey!" She pointed a finger at Peter and rose off the couch. "You know you seemed kind of nice before, but I'm starting to rethink my opinion of you." She knew confrontation was out of character for her, and she could tell it wasn't just her anger she was harboring.

"Olivia." Sylar edged toward getting off the couch himself and Olivia looked back at him.

"No, I don't think it's ok for him…for you," she turned back to face Peter, "to come into his father's house and start talking about government plots and brothers who are United States Senators and thinking that you're better because you…"

"Olivia!" Sylar stood up behind her, smiling at the outburst but also very aware that she could unintentionally affect them with her ability. Considering the amount of zeal she put into her speech he figured anger was probably not the best emotion for any of them to be taken over by just then.

Peter seemed almost hurt at her jab saying he thought he was better. "I thought you told her about me?" He asked wondering what Sylar could have said that would lead her to make a statement like the one she had just made.

Sylar shot a look up to Peter that said more than he intended.

"What exactly did you tell her Sylar?" Peter took a step forward as he finally comprehended why she had helped him in the diner, why she didn't seem afraid of him, and why she had just stood up for him; she didn't know any better.

"Peter." Sylar said his name trying to insinuate a level of caution.

Peter was tired, exhausted really. All he wanted to do was lay down right where he was and go to sleep for a few months. He had prepared himself for dealing with Sylar, but he had not been expecting a third party, one who knew very little about the world they lived in and apparently knew nothing about the psychotic serial killer standing right behind her. She was oblivious, and Peter didn't know if he had strength to deal with that on top of everything else. He closed his eyes and shook his head.

"All I need to know from you is if I can count on your help. I don't need Sylar here, do you understand? I need Gabriel." Peter knew using his real name was not the best choice, but he didn't care.

Sylar tried to stop Peter before he said it but he was too quick. Olivia shivered at Sylar's anxiousness, but was already too baffled by the words being spoken around her to give it the attention it deserved.

"You know what, I give up!" Olivia threw her hands in the air and walked back to the kitchen out of ear shot of the men.

Sylar let her go and jumped at the chance to say some things he had held back saying before, but again Peter was just too quick.

"What the hell is going on here Sylar? That girl knows nothing…nothing about you does she?" Peter had that look of undeniable seriousness on his face.

Sylar had been thinking about playing nice, but Peter always managed to bring the stubbornness out in him. "What she knows or doesn't know isn't for you to decide."

"No, it's for her to decide." Peter moved in the direction of the kitchen and Sylar automatically caught him with his telekinesis.

"You are not going in there." Sylar growled through clenched teeth.

"Sylar…"

"It might be too difficult for you to comprehend, but I'm not keeping her around to kill her and take her ability, though I know that's what you think." His voice and eyes remained menacing though he loosened his hold on Peter and allowed him to move back a few steps.

Peter had hoped that he was right, that Gabriel was still in there…somewhere. Maybe his mother hadn't been so wrong in sending him there after all.

"Then what are you doing?" Peter posed the very question Sylar had been trying to answer for the past few days.

Sylar stared at him knowing his baffled expression was betraying his lack of direction. He could only think of one answer just then, and he knew Peter would be surprised by it.

"I'm helping her because…because in the wrong hands…without the right influence…"

Before Sylar could even finish Peter was shaking his head. "Are you the right influence Sylar? Because I think there is definitely some one better suited for this than you."

At that Sylar moved himself directly between Peter and the kitchen doorway with his shoulders squared in an obvious defensive posture. No way was he going to let Peter anywhere near Olivia.

Peter, having understood the immediate reaction, sought to bring the conversation back down to a more affable level. "I didn't mean me." Peter said with a bit of a smirk.

Sylar was more than confused now. Peter always had kept him on his toes, but it was the honesty in his manipulation that he could never wrap his head around. Manipulation equals deceitfulness, but Peter managed to forever be telling the truth, and he would know after all. Peter was one of the only people Sylar felt could match him in wits if not ability…no one could match him in ability.

Peter waited a moment as he made his way to the front window before explaining to Sylar what he was getting at.

"You're a killer, a monster. We all know it. You don't care about anybody Sylar…but Gabriel…Gabriel could care." Peter spoke with his back to Sylar as he looked out the window having little fear that he would actually attack him now. "Gabriel did care; in the future…you cared about your son." Peter had been wondering whether or not to reveal the information, and seemed to have just made his choice as the words were coming out of his mouth.

Sylar stopped breathing. "Son?"

Peter turned to see the effect of what he had said and almost regretted having said anything. "Yeah…but the future is always changing so who knows what's slated to happen now…but yeah, you had a kid…and you called yourself Gabriel, not Sylar."

Peter didn't bother telling him how they had still thought they were brothers in that future, which they clearly were not, or about how the child ended up dying. None of that would have been useful just then. He needed Sylar to believe there was a future where he wasn't a mass murdering psychopath, but a father instead; a good man who had the capacity for real emotion, attachments, love for something besides his precious abilities…where he accepted his responsibilities instead of ignoring them, or worse destroying them.

While Peter turned back to watching out the window Sylars head was spinning. It was all a little too much. Every expectation he had for the encounter had crumbled over the last 15 minutes leaving him wondering if he had never made it out of bed that morning, if he was still asleep and dreaming. In some way Sylar had always believed in fate. He was sure nothing was set in stone, but that there were different paths to be taken. Once in a while some of the paths are blocked leaving only one way to go. Then sometimes there are open roads, and he had to decide which one to take. It seemed that he had always ignored the off chutes of his chosen course, but now the long dark trail he had been on for so long was impassible, and he had a choice instead of being directed. He knew what one would bring…find his father and see if he could unblock the original path, or he could follow Peter which only meant that he had no idea what to expect. Only that if Peter was right about the future, he would change…for the better. He thought of Elle's question in his dream and for the first time he wondered if she might have been right, that he had no idea why he killed her. At that moment he wasn't half as sure of himself as he had been three days ago. There was only on thing he had been even remotely sure about before the interesting exchange with Peter, and that was helping Olivia. Now it appeared that helping Peter might be his best chance at not only doing just that, but maybe helping himself along the way.

"Yes." Sylar mumbled.

Peter turned his head, not sure what Sylar had been responding to. "Yes what?"

"Yes…I'll help you." Sylar didn't necessarily enjoy the feeling of cooperation, but it had to be done.

Peter nodded once and frowned a bit knowing what he had to get Sylar to do next. "You have to tell her about who you are."

Sylar rolled his eyes and glared at his new comrade. "I will. But you can't go shooting your mouth off at any question she might ask that would lead her to finding out things on her own. And you have to be careful about letting your hatred of me shine through too brightly, got it."

"Why?" Peter was curious.

"Because…" Sylar sighed heavily, "she has what you have, empathic mimicry. And one of her abilities is empathy. Much stronger than anything you ever exhibited…at least that's what I heard." Sylar finished with his trademark grin.

Peter considered this a moment, knowing enough about empathy to trust him on this. "My lips are sealed." Peter agreed.

"Fine." Sylar half turned back to the kitchen and called for Olivia, but there was no answer.

The two men exchanged a worried look before stalking through the doorway into the kitchen only to find it empty.