(7) A Marked Globe

It was another week before Sylar eventually managed to take Noah out for no other reason than to be among people. He still had to use teleportation to get to & from Haifa but planned to stop using that one once he could drive again. For now, he brought Noah to a playground. They had their own personal swing & slide set in the back yard but here were other children for Noah to start getting used to.

Unlike the other parents who stood off to the side chatting in various cliques, Sylar went into the playground to be with Noah like he would do at home. It sort of defeated the purpose of introducing Noah to others as the older children had gone off by themselves while the younger ones stayed close to their mothers (a fact that would come back to bite Sylar later on). Sylar kept his eyes averted from the adults. He didn't want to know if any had an ability & risk losing it which worked for a while but he was soon approached by a young woman.

"You interact with him very well," she began.

Sylar looked straight at her. "It's just him & I." He quickly put his eyes back on his son. So far, so good.

"You're a single dad?" the woman asked in surprise.

Sylar looked at her again while he spoke to her. "A widower, in fact." It felt so weird saying that but for Noah's sake it was better this way.

"Ohh, sorry to hear that," She replied in almost a whisper.

Sylar flicked his eyes back to her. "You speak English rather well."

"I'm from Canada," She began. Sylar was instantly nervous. Would his killer name be known in that country as well? He kept one hand over his watch on his wrist. Sylar was written there, ready to betray him. "But I married a Rabbi & we eventually ended up here with our own son. He's a year & a half."

"Noah just had his first birthday a couple months ago," Sylar picked Noah up, keeping his watch hand under the child's jacket out of sight.

"Noah? That is a great name," she said before turning to answer someone calling to her in Hebrew. She spoke back in the same language. "Well, we gotta go. Bye."

Sylar was in the process of waving to her, wondered what the hell he was doing, but then noticed Noah had copied him. "Yes, that's what you do. Wave people off." He brought Noah to the edge of the playground & put him down again. "Well, that went better for me than I thought it would. We don't want me to mess up again, right? You'd be taken away from me."

That first encounter was short but enough for Sylar. He brought Noah home & it was several days before he felt safe enough to try again. Eventually, he was able to bring Noah out three to four times a week, never on a Friday or Saturday though, as both days were more important in Israel as day of preparation & then the day of the Sabbath.

Sylar also got a car before his American license, which Israel would accept for a short time, ran out. It was a sleek black Audi, with state of the art GPS, reclining seats & power windows. His first attempt driving it however, nearly exposed him. He had put Noah in the back & then got in like a normal American & reached for the steering wheel, only to grasp on air. He looked sideways. " ... Rrrright ... " Sylar looked at the mirror to see Noah watching him. "Yeah. Total American. Right here." He opened the door to get out. "UNF!" Sylar was held fast in his seat by the belt. Noah laughed at him. "Oh yeah, real funny!" He unstrapped himself & managed to get out without further embarrassment. "Freaking idiot," Sylar grumbled to himself, fixing the collar of his checkered shirt as he went around to the other side & tried all that again. He slowly moved towards the main road. "Really doesn't seem that much different. No matter what, the driver's side is towards the middle of the road. Ok. I can do this." *

It took some getting used to, but with the power he was born with, it was easier to figure out how to drive like this. At the same time, he started showing up as Claire using Gray instead of Bennet & went for the full Israeli license. When he got 'hers', he used the imprinting to swap the name & the picture around so that his new license was for Gabriel Gray, complete with his original picture from the first one. That way, he didn't have to risk shape-shifting in front of Noah as the boy got older. (Furthermore, though he didn't know it at the time for he had banned anything American from the house & there was as yet no TV, Claire's image had become rather popular now for she had deliberately exposed her power to the world on camera so having her face here would arouse suspicion.)

Noah was almost two years old by now. His first official word, besides Daddy, was the proper way of saying ocean, which was a bittersweet moment for Sylar. Noah probably wouldn't even remember how he had started trying to say the word & Sylar would most likely never hear him try like that again. The next time would be for real but hopefully not for like, a hundred years, or something to that effect.

"Yes, ocean," Sylar held Noah close. "Now you can work on saying Mediterranean, which is this ocean's name." Noah just stared at him in a get-out-of-my-life kind of way, earning a laugh.

As September came close, Sylar debated with himself as to whether or not to start Noah in preschool now or wait one more year. He realized that he would keep Noah for one last year when October suddenly showed up instead & in a rather hilarious way. Sylar had taken Noah for a drive into Haifa, only to come to a literal screeching halt before even entering the city. The streets were eerily empty & most places were closed. It wasn't the Sabbath & there were no reports of any terrorism so it was rather peculiar to not find anyone. Sylar immediately asked the Audi to figure out what was going on.

"Yom ... Kippur?" He continued listening to a playback of his search. "Ohh we really shouldn't be out right now. This one's right up there with their Sabbaths. This is bad. This is really bad." He slipped down in the seat a little, like a cowed dog with its tail between its legs, as he guiltily looked around before turning the car for home & off the streets before getting caught.

"Is Daddy bad man?"

"Yes, Noah. Daddy is bad. Very bad man, indeed!" Sylar quickly drove into the garage to hide & pressed the button to close the gate. "Ohh you have no idea," he muttered to himself under breath.

"Please restate your request," the Audi asked.

"Shut up," Sylar ordered. "Ok, we won't be doing that ever again. We need to look up these extra feasts they do & when the ffff—hel—heck did October show up?" Sylar tried to tone down a swear word that desperately needed to be said.

Needless to say, they spent the day home, indoors, eating ice cream (not realizing that the Day Of Atonement was supposed to be a day of fasting) while Sylar double-checked for any more Jewish holidays to avoid. One in particular, caught his attention: Hanukkah. It was a week long festival of lights that basically coincided with Christmas.

He looked at Noah. "Now there is one thing I will do with you that my parents rarely bothered to do with me & I've always felt I missed out. Christmas."

"What's that?"

"A very fun time with lots of colored lights & candy & flying reindeer."

"What's a reindeer?"

"You don't know what a reindeer is?" Sylar asked with a laugh. Noah shook his head. "They are magic creatures that can fly! They'll bring you presents."

"They bring presents?"

"That's right," Sylar replied. "This Hanukkah thing is just eight extra days of fun."

"What about Mr. Muggles?"

Sylar almost had a heart attack at the name before remembering it was the name he had started giving to Noah's first teddy bear for lack of something better which now Noah himself had unfortunately picked up. Sylar sent the boy a slightly nervous smile. "He will like it too, I'm sure."

Though it wasn't Noah's first Christmas, it would be the first time they did anything about it, complete with decorations & the tree. Noah received two presents, one was another plush teddy bear to be a friend for Mr. Muggles. This was to start teaching Noah about having friends. The other was an Ipad for starting projects similar to school. Sylar had blocked ninety percent of everything on it & made sure only the educational programs got through. He never left Noah alone with it & they used it together for only about an hour at a time almost every day. As Noah's third birthday was just around the corner, Sylar would add on new apps for Noah to learn anything from different animals to simple numbers for starting to count. He also previewed any app to make sure nothing American was mentioned before using it as a learning tool for Noah.

Besides such apps for beginners reading & shapes, there were also coloring apps for Noah to start on & he took to them instantly. The Ipad ended up teaching Noah one of the most basic facts in life one day when Noah had found a picture of a pair together in the sunset.

"What they doing?"

"Oh they're just kissing."

"Kissing?"

"Adults do that sometimes," Sylar shrugged. "When a guy & a girl like each other, they tend to do that." He unfortunately started to drink some of his coffee.

"What's a girl?"

Sylar choked back on the hot liquid. "Noah." Hack. "Hang on." Cough. "A girl. GIRL! Right. Just a minute." He took the glasses off to rub his eyes, then put them back on. Surely he wasn't going to have 'the talk' now, was he? "Ok, girls are just like us, only they aren't."

"They not us?"

"We're guys & girls are, uh well, girls," Sylar stammered, totally unprepared. "They're shaped differently from us. They're just prettier is all. Noah, you've seen plenty when we go to Haifa."

Noah shook his head. "I don't know."

"Alright, I will point one out to you next time," Sylar gave up.

Noah pointed up at Sylar. "You kissing girls?"

"Noah," Sylar groaned, face bright red. "Ok yes. Plenty of times. But I'm a grown up. You are way too young, right now. No girl kissing for you for about a hundred years, ok?"

"Ok," Noah muttered, disappointed.

Sylar took the Ipad & put away. That was enough computer time for one day! He watched Noah playing with his two teddy bears for a moment. "Noah?" Sylar dropped down onto the floor beside him. "It doesn't always have to be a boy & girl. Could be two boys or two girls. If you prefer boys when you grow up, that's alright too, ok?" Noah silently nodded. Sylar leaned in closer. "But not for a very long time."

Sylar thought the matter was over with but a few weeks later, knowing about girls opened the way for Noah to learn about other sorts of people. He had brought Noah to one of the biggest playgrounds again & hung back while Noah interacted with three of the younger children there, one of which was a girl. Sylar had been forcing himself to stay farther away from Noah when they were out to get used to Noah going to school, for this year was certainly the year he would start preschool. He had pointed out a few girls of different ages for Noah to remember what a girl was, then left Noah alone with his temporary friends in the sandbox for a few minutes. He sat down on one of the smaller tires that were stuck in sand around the park & kept Noah in sight at all times. Within just a few minutes, Noah joined him, looking somewhat confused & sad at the same time.

"Finished already? We just got here."

"Tomer went home," Noah pointed in the direction of a group that were leaving.

"You want to go home now?"

"Tomer got in trouble," Noah said. "His mom said so."

"That's why they left," Sylar replied. "But you're not in any trouble. My glasses are on, remember?"

Noah looked up at him. "What's a mom?"

Damn it! Sylar took a long time in answering. "Um, well, a mom is, I mean, well someone like me but a girl instead."

"Someone like you?"

"Well yes, but like, a girl instead," Sylar tried again. "I'm your Daddy. If I had a girl in my life, she would have been your Mommy, but I don't. It's just us."

"Tomer said everyone has a mom," Noah went on. "Or we could not be here."

"Well a boy & girl have to be together to have a child."

"So where is my Mommy?"

Sylar looked Noah over. "Noah ... she died. A long time from now."

"What does that mean?"

"You remember that bird that flew into the window a couple months ago? What happened to it?"

"It didn't move," Noah said. "It was cold & hard."

"What did I do with it?"

Noah made a digging motion. "In a hole."

"Then what did you do the other day?" Sylar waited for a reply. "You dug it up, thinking it had gotten better but what did you find?"

"The ground ate it," Noah tried.

"Something like that," said Sylar. "That's death. It happens to almost everything eventually. Not for many years. Your mom is like that right now. That's why it's just you & me from now on."

"Do you know a lot about death?"

"Yeah," Sylar couldn't help but think of every murder he had ever done. "Yeah, I know quite a bit about it. Most grown ups do. Don't worry about that right now. You have a long, long time ahead of you."

"Ok," Noah sighed.

Sylar stood up & pulled Noah along with him. "What do you say we go get some ice cream?"

"Yeah!" Noah ran for the car.

Sylar sighed in relief, hoping a similar conversation wouldn't happen in a while. He knew it would come up again some day but he intended to be more prepared for it next time. For now, it was time to get used to being separated for when Noah would start preschool at the end of summer.

Using his new abilities no one knew about that he had picked up from the nightstalkers, Sylar was able to leave Noah 'unattended' while still watching over him. He was able to shape-shift to animals now & when Noah appeared to be by himself, a common Kestrel was close by in a tree, pretending to preen.

At first, Noah didn't take too kindly to this new set up & would go into a panic if he couldn't see or even hear his father. Sylar started by showing up immediately but gradually over time, he let Noah look around for a few moments first, then a few minutes. Eventually, Noah settled into being by himself in the back yard, or so he thought anyway.

When Noah knew they were together, all Sylar could talk to him about was school. He mentioned games & other children to play with & having picnics (which is how he described the lunch recesses) in an attempt to entice Noah to go when it was time. In the beginning, Noah was adamant about not going. He was used to being around his father all the time & no one else. But through use of the Kestrel, Noah slowly got over his separation anxiety. Sylar even dared to use it at the public playgrounds in the end, but Noah didn't notice as there were others around him.

On the first day of school, Noah was unusually quiet & stayed behind Sylar, way behind, trudging into the building last. He was rather shy when the woman he was apparently going to stay with for a few hours came out to meet them. Noah didn't speak to her or even barely look at her until another little boy had come out to see what was going on. Noah instantly went to him, recognizing the other boy from the playground.

"There we go," The woman got up from crouching to be at Noah's level. "I knew something would spark his interest. That's my son, Jason."

"We were never separated before," Sylar began. "I've been raising him myself since his mother died when he was three months old. We tend to stay in the country away from people."

The woman looked at him for a moment. "Oh I think I remember you. A couple years ago at the park. I'm from Canada. I'm Tirzah." She held out one hand.

Sylar took hold of it for a moment & said, "Gabriel." He hoped to avoid using Gray. He had no choice but to use Noah's full name when they first signed him up for school, but it was filed away without question, something Sylar found strange & hoped to find out or rather, hoped to find out without having to kill someone. He realized something in that moment. He had been using all his abilities since Noah was born, including the Aptitude, but without causing harm to anyone. He was using them on his own without training or help from others trying to make him a guinea pig for their amusements. Now without outside influence, his powers were developing properly & he was using them all they way they should have been used, even the rage for blood; though still there, was now reserved for defence instead of sport.

Tirzah said in slight awe. "That is a very good strong name from the Torah."

"I know it's for an angel in the Bible," Sylar said. "But we aren't religious."

"Really?" Tirzah asked in surprise. "Yet you & your son both have well-known names from the Torah."

Sylar shrugged it off. "His mother named him."

"I see," Tirzah sighed. "By the way, the owner of this place wants to meet you." She handed over a card. "His name is Shlomo Gordon. He is a Rabbi."

"Me? Why?" Sylar was instantly suspicious.

"No idea," Tirzah pointed to the stairs. "He is up in his office right now."

Sylar all but glared up the stairs for a moment. "Noah, Daddy is just going upstairs for a moment. You behave yourself."

"You come right back?"

"I'll just be a minute or two," Sylar started upstairs, half-expecting to kill someone again after such a long dry run. He pocketed the glasses on the way up. He silently entered the large office that took up the top of the building & slowly stalked forward. An old black man was standing in the window, watching Sylar advance. Sylar appraised him for a moment. "You're the one that helped me get Israeli citizenship several years ago."

"Yes," Shlomo said. "When you time-travelled back for it."

"Time-travel?" Sylar played dumb. "I don't know what you—"

"Hush, Mr. Sylar," Shlomo raised a hand. "You know exactly what I am talking about."

At the mention of his killer name, Sylar attempted to throw his force power at the man but nothing happened. "What did you do to me?"

"You can't use your abilities around me, right now," Shlomo said. "I can block powers, among other things. I'm a mimic like you & Peter Petrelli. Unlike either of you, mostly yourself, I have never killed for abilities."

Sylar glared at him. "I am not that monster anymore. But I do have a son to protect now & if I have to kill to keep him safe, I will."

"You don't have to," Shlomo tried to assure him. "I told you back then I would help you later." A moment of silence passed. "Mr. Sylar? It's later now."

"Peter is no friend of mine," Sylar snarled low. "I DO intend to kill him, regardless."

"You & Peter can deal with your own petty crap on your own time," Shlomo half-snapped. "I care not about such bickering. I am neither friend or foe of Peter. We do not know each other personally. I just know of him. Pity though, that he stayed in America. He won't get the same help you can have."

"What help could you possibly offer?"

"Ever hear of the Kabbalah?"

"That's a Jewish religion," Sylar said. "Noah & I are atheists."

"It is not just a religion," Shlomo corrected. "To the outside world, we consider it part of our main faith & we can use both the Torah & the Talmud. But at its core, it is mysticism or what some people would call sorcery or magic. Or what we call," He paused & moved close to Sylar. "Super powers. Abilities."

Sylar took a moment to process that. "The Kabbalah is the Israeli version of the Company?"

"Don't use that word," Shlomo sharply ordered, making Sylar jump a little. "We are nothing like that American Company the Petrellis & Bennets tried to use. It was shameful & misused. It created Sylar. Had you been with us, you never would have found Sylar. But what is passed is past. We can only go forward now. I have what you claim is your power, but what we call Intuitive Aptitude has manifested several times over the eons. It is a particular power for mimics like us. It seems to be our first power. Some like me, have learned to use it properly while others like you, turned to blood."

"There have been other mimics in the past?"

"All abilities have shown up through the ages, from Vlad Dracu to the Romanovs & Rasputin. Even that radical Rabbi the Jewish nation had to contend with about two thousand years ago. Yeshua. You might know his name as Jesus."

"Jesus existed?" Sylar all but exclaimed.

"Of course, he did," Shlomo replied. "Now whether he is the Messiah or son of God or whatever, that is all up for religious debate. For me personally as a Jew, I would say no, he was not. Just a human with a lot of powers, mostly focused on healing in spite of everything. But we are not here for that." He picked a book up off his desk & handed it to Sylar. "That is a beginner's book for those seeking to join. It's in English for you but anything in this country is better in Hebrew. You join as you would a synagogue or church or temple, under the guise of religion. But inside, you can learn to use all your powers to the fullest potential, like a school. Gain more perhaps if you wish without killing anyone & without losing yourself. Did you not say that shape-shifting was very confusing for you? That is a dangerous power to take on without understanding it but you can learn about it in the Kabbalah."

"So what, you offering Hogwarts & calling me Harry Potter then?" Sylar slightly scoffed.

"Well, yes," Shlomo replied. "Where do you think Rowling got her ideas from? She is one of us, has a lot of healing powers that seems to work well on children."

"You trying to tell me Harry Potter is real?"

"Not the character," Shlomo shook his head. "The story she wrote is entirely fiction. But the ideology behind it is real. It's how we treat members of the inner circle in the Kabbalah for lack of a better description." Sylar stared in shocked silence as the rabbi finished. "It is essentially a school for people like us who have abilities."

"Do I have to convert to join?" Sylar finally asked.

"No," Shlomo answered. "That's just a ruse for outsiders. Now of course most of us are religious as well. I mean give me a break, we're Jews! We love our faith & we love arguing to death about it. Literally, for some. But the main thing is the magic, if you will. Unlike the American Company, we don't hunt people down to study them for powers. We invite people in discreetly. Had you been here from the start, your first power would have blossomed naturally on its own into something wonderful. But you already seem to be on that path now."

"What do you mean?"

"Haven't you been using that Aptitude for simple things around your son? Such as driving a non-American car or figuring out how to renew your driver's license?" Sylar remained silent, so Shlomo continued. "In time, you will be able to look at people with abilities & instantly know how it works without touching them. You won't even feel a blood rage any more." **

"All I have to do," Sylar held up the book. "Is start reading this?"

"Study is more like it," Shlomo pointed out. "I do own this school after all, as well as a university."

Sylar shook his head slightly, not really believing it. "I have one question."

"Asking is the beginning of knowledge."

"Is Noah safe here, with you around?"

Shlomo lifted his block. "You can detect lies now. Yes, Noah is just fine here. In fact, here is the only place he is safe outside of your home. Can you imagine what America would do if they got their hands on the son of the great Sylar? No, no! We can't have that, now can we?"

"It is the last thing I want," Sylar admitted. "So you want to invite him into the Kabbalah?"

"No," Shlomo replied, surprising Sylar. "He can grow up in my schools where we can protect him from Companies like in America. But you have to be twenty or older to join the Kabbalah if you are going for the mystics of it. Right now, Noah doesn't even have any discernible powers. He can join the outer circle for the religious aspect of it whenever he wants, but no further until he has come of age & only if he manifests any abilities. If he does, YOU can invite him."

"If he does but I don't, what would you do to him?"

"Nothing," Shlomo said. "It is not our way. Your mind is clouded by the mistreatment you received in America & yes it was mistreatment. Feeding you abilities. Keeping everyone locked up. Erasing memories. One of us, one of them. No. It doesn't work. The American Company is barely a few years old. Us? We've been doing this for thousands of years. That's why we prefer a synagogue setting. A temple family if you will." They stared at each other. Sylar didn't feel any lies but he was still unsure. Anything remotely involving his son put him on edge. He also realized he had his powers back but had no inclination to use them just yet. "Go read the book, Gabriel," Shlomo finally used his real name. "Give it a chance. You don't have to join if you don't want to. We will never meet again if you refuse. It's a one-time offer. But don't be so quick to judge & condemn something based on past experiences that have nothing to do with the Kabbalah. It will be very different this time, let me assure you, if you decide to accept."

Sylar slowly stepped backwards to the door. "I will think about it."

"That's all I ask," Shlomo sat in his chair. "Now go be that Kestrel you do to watch over your son." Sylar just stared at him. "The Aptitude of mine told me all that just by looking at you. It can be that strong for you as well if you choose to walk this path."

Sylar slowed to a stop as he descended down the stairs. He hadn't felt any deceptions, but he had Noah to worry about now & didn't trust him with any one. It was hard trying to get Noah into school. The use of the Kestral helped keep them together even if Noah didn't know. Not yet, anyway. But Sylar himself wouldn't stray out of hearing distance from his son. He knew what was out there. What to look out for to protect Noah. He looked at the small book in his hands. One thing Noah needed protection from was himself. Sylar thought back to the last time he encountered his own father, dying from some cancer or other. Samson Gray had turned on his own son to try gaining another ability. Hilarious since the Regen accelerated cancer, not cured it, the one disease the Regen could not cure. Prevent yes, but not cure. Samson had told Sylar then that the need to kill comes & goes. What if Sylar did that with his own son who as of yet did not have an ability & was mortal? Claire had told him all her children were mortals. Even if Noah did develop an ability, it was unlikely to be Regen.

Coming off the final stair, Sylar could see into the main playroom. Noah was still close to Jason & both were coloring. Just thinking about turning on his son caused him to panic. "I can not let that happen. I will NOT become like my own father." He went outside, put the book in the car still parked nearby, then as the Kestrel, he perched on a bar in the outside playground to keep Noah in sight at all times, even through the window when he was inside. He had to fly up to a tree when the children eventually came outside & the older ones liked nothing more than to amuse themselves by trying to catch him, which was a slight indignation for Sylar trying to watch over Noah at the same time as trying to save his pinion feathers. Some of the children eventually resorted to throwing rocks at him to make him move, laughing when he screeched at them, wildly flapping his wings, until Tirzah caught them & began shouting in Hebrew to subdue them. Sylar decided that Tirzah was very scary when she was mad & yelling & thought it best to not get on her bad side!

Apart from dodging his tormentors, things seemed to go rather well for a while but when the children were called inside after about half an hour in the playground, Noah instead tried to go out the gate leading into the parking lot. Tirzah caught him but Noah resisted.

"Daddy's car," Noah pointed.

"Your Dad will pick you up soon," Tirzah replied, petting Noah's head. "I wonder why his car is still here, though?"

"Daddy's here."

"I doubt it," Tirzah shrugged.

Noah pulled away from here & pointed again. "Oddy!" Noah tried saying Audi which was the type of their car. Sylar mentally kicked himself. Why didn't he move the car? It was only confusing Noah who was supposed to be getting used to being away from him now.

Tirzah picked Noah up. "You will see him soon. I promise." She carried him inside.

Sylar flew to a different tree so he could see through the window. Noah would keep going for the door, looking for him & it was all Tirzah could do to keep the boy inside. Miraculously, she seemed to have a calming effect on him & avoided a tantrum. Perhaps it was due to practice with her own son, but Noah's attention was ever on the door, waiting for his father to come back in.

After another half hour of watching Noah's antics, Sylar finally fluttered to the ground in a concealed area & reappeared as himself. He entered the school & Noah instantly ran to him. Sylar got down to his level. "So, did you have fun?" Noah shook his head. "What do you mean no?" Noah just shook his head again. "Come on. You started playing with Jason the moment we got here."

"You left."

"I said I'd be back."

"We go home now." Noah wasn't asking but stating his wishes.

"That's up to Tirzah," Sylar stood up. "You should have another hour here."

"First day is usually a bit of a strain," Tirzah replied with a laugh. "You can take him now." She looked down at Noah. "See you next week."

"No."

"Noah," Sylar rolled his eyes. "Be nice." Noah stood behind Sylar, hiding, while hanging onto his hand.

"He's very attached to you," Tirzah remarked.

"I have to do everything since we don't have his mom," Sylar replied. "He is used to having me around at all times."

"You mind if I ask what happened to her?"

"Explosion," Sylar said. "That's how she died. Noah should be dead too, but luckily, I was near the beach holding him at the moment instead of with her. It's the only reason he is still alive."

"Oh I'm sorry to hear that!" Tirzah gasped. "How awful! I'm glad you have Noah, though. He's been great here. Just misses you a lot."

"I'll work on that," Sylar smiled sheepishly for a moment before attempting to take Noah outside. He looked to his right to see Noah there before going for the door & opening it. Halfway out he heard two thuds & then Noah started crying. Looking back he found Noah flat on his back on the ground & more to the left than the right. He stared at the child for a moment, then looked up at Tirzah who was giggling as she bent down to help Noah up. "What just happened?" Sylar finally asked.

"He tried going to your other side & ended up running into the door," Tirzah patted Noah down. He seemed to be fine but he shot a dark glare at his father.

"Noah," Sylar whipped off the glasses. "Pick a side & stick with it, please!" He picked the boy up & brought him to the car. After securing Noah in the back, Sylar leaned against the side of the car for a moment. "I'll end up killing this kid by sheer dumb accident if I'm not careful." He put the glasses on, then almost got in on the wrong side again but caught himself just in time. He went around to the other side & proceeded to smack his head against the door frame as he sat down. Sylar leaned forward over the steering wheel for a moment, groaning while rubbing the side of his head.

When they finally got home, Noah seemed to behave normally enough but the next day, which was a Friday, Sylar had planned to go out with Noah but the boy wouldn't go near the car. He seemed to think Sylar would bring him back to the school & leave him again. But Israel didn't have school on Friday. It was Sunday to Thursday here. Sylar gave up & brought Noah inside where they did a few of the educational games on the Ipad instead.

Saturday was the same as before. Noah didn't want to go near the car so he wouldn't end up in school away from his father. Sylar tried to coax the boy into the car but Noah wouldn't cooperate at all. Sylar closed the door.

"Alright, I guess we are having another stay-in today," Sylar followed Noah inside. "Come on buddy. It's their Sabbath right now. There's no school. Even in America, schools are closed on this day."

Noah settled down with his crayons & a coloring book he had received from the school. With a long-suffering sigh, Sylar flopped down onto the couch, watching Noah color in some of the pictures. It took him a moment to realize what Noah was coloring. The book was a series of maps for different countries in the world, complete with labels, names of major cities, Canada's provinces & America's states.

America. Sylar's biggest secret he had to keep from Noah was there in that country. But of course, it was silly to think that he could keep Noah from at least learning the names of various countries around the world. Just ... no more than that. He let it go for now.

It took a lot more fighting come Sunday to get Noah to school. In the end & against his better judgment, Sylar had no choice but to forgo the car & just teleport them close by.

Noah glanced around. "Why we move so fast?"

"Something Daddy can do," Sylar felt a little pleased with himself in spite of everything. "Now, why don't we go find Jason?" At the mention of the name, Noah temporarily forgot his separation anxieties & eventually settled down with his new friend for a while.

It took longer than Sylar expected to get Noah used to school routine. It wasn't until the Hanukkah season that Noah finally started to like school but by that time, Sylar was the one inwardly fuming about it. Hanukkah was a religious thing & unlike Sylar & Noah, Tirzah & her family kept it. This got Noah interested in such things more so than Sylar would have liked. He kept the season as secular as possible in their own home, hoping to silently discourage Noah from anything religious.

On top of it all, Sylar found out too late that he had royally screwed Noah up in one way. Though Noah didn't understand the how if it, he now knew that his father could move 'really fast' which was how he viewed teleporting through space & time. Noah cleverly tricked his father into a promise when he opened his world map coloring book, pointed at a rather colorful depiction of the Eiffel Tower & asked if they could go there.

"That's in Paris, all the way down in France," Sylar stated absent-mindedly, reading the Kabbalist book he had gotten at the beginning of the school year. "We can go soon."

Noah clamored into Sylar's lap. "You move really fast."

"I can."

"So hurry up," Noah pushed his coloring book into Sylar's face. "Let's go."

"Not now, Noah," Sylar held the coloring book away. "I didn't mean today! I will take you there someday. Later."

"Please Daddy! Now?"

"Soon," Sylar sighed, laying his own book aside.

"For Han'Kah?" Noah still had trouble with big words.

Sylar looked at the boy. "You mean Christmas? We don't do Hanukkah like Jason does. We're not religious."

"As soon as we wake up, we go," Noah said.

"Ok fine," Sylar gave up. Better to get the boy away from the religion anyway, was how he reasoned with himself.

"Ok," Noah got off & went to the shelf where he had his crayons. He grabbed a fistful of something & came back. "These are for you. I find lots."

"Um, thanks Noah," Sylar gingerly accepted the gift of feathers. "A bouquet of feathers." Noah smiled & ran off to the kitchen. "MY … feathers." Sylar smacked himself in the forehead with his free hand, trying not to laugh. "That's just perfect." He ended up laughing anyway as Noah came back with a juice box from the fridge & started coloring again while Sylar opened it for him.

Though Sylar hoped Noah would forget by then, on Christmas day, the first thing Noah asked for was France again. Sylar beamed them over to the Eiffel Tower. They ended up spending the day there before Sylar could find a quiet place to disappear from & get back home. He gave Noah a rather large box wrapped in green Christmas paper. Noah pulled out a large sparkling deep blue & gold (real gold at that by a touch of Sylar's fingers) globe.

"This is what Earth looks like," Sylar pulled out a dark green marker. "See this place by the Mediterranean Sea? That's Israel, where we are." He highlighted three areas in Israel, using the dark green pen. "That's the Golan Heights, Jerusalem & the Gaza Strip. We must never ever go to those areas."

"Why?"

"You'll hear about it in school soon enough, but a lot of holy wars goes on there."

"What's a holy war?"

"It's when two or more religions hate each other so much, they try to wipe the other out," Sylar explained. "A lot of bad people hate Jews for no other reason than being born. So we stay away from those sort." He then got a black felt pen. "As for the rest of it beyond Israel, eventually, we can go anywhere except the places in black, ok?" He blotted out the entirety of America (except for Alaska) & all of Mexico. "We must never go to the black places, either."

"Why?"

"Because well," Sylar cast about for words. What was left of the Bennet-Petrelli-Gray clan was back there, waiting to take him down. He had killed people in both countries & he had one more kill planned for a certain medic in New York City. Some day. "Well, we just can't alright? Just forget about it. But everywhere else is fine."

It took a while, but Noah soon learned to use the globe to pick a place instead of his coloring book that had several states of America to fill in which Sylar would call black. Noah could find land shapes from the globe that matched some of his pictures & if it wasn't black on the globe, it was good to go.

Sylar knew it would get harder as Noah got older to conceal his darkest secret but he would try to shelter the boy for as long as possible & for now, a marked globe seemed to be a big help.

* Leonard Nimoy vs. Zach Quinto — the Challenge; an Audi commercial. Go to YouTube & watch it!

** Based on a scene from "I Am Become Death" when Sylar simply looked at Knox & instantly understood his power.