(8) In An Instant

"Again."

"No."

"You were so close, that time."

"I almost killed her."

"Gabriel, you can't kill anyone with me here," Shlomo replied, pulling down Sylar's raised hand. He had almost grabbed an unsuspecting woman who had an ability he didn't have yet. He had almost slammed her against the wall as in days of old. But he never accessed his force power & she passed by without so much as a glance.

Sylar looked back over his shoulder at the old rabbi standing behind him. "You are not blocking my powers."

"In part, I am," Shlomo replied. "I can quell the blood lust. It in itself is a type of ability. Soon enough, you can do this on your own."

Sylar turned completely to face him. "I could kill you. No healing power & you can't take it from me since you have cancer. You have a few abilities I don't have."

"Yes, you could kill me for them," Shlomo nonchalantly replied. "But you won't. You've left your Sylar persona far behind. More so than you realize."

"Have I?" Sylar scoffed. "I wanted to kill that woman for a moment."

"Perhaps but a moment," Shlomo said. "But I barely had to hold you back. You did most of it on your own. Your self-training has helped you a lot. Now, it's merely a question of finessing it. Soon enough, you will be able to simply look at someone, understand their ability immediately & download it for yourself."

"Then explain why I'm so on edge right now," Sylar snapped. "I usually calm my temper by either killing someone, or having sex with them, then kill them after & if none of that works, I go after Peter for lack of something better to do & anyway, I hate him."

Shlomo looked at Sylar & smiled. "Your son."

"What about him?"

"You are up here with me & some other Kabbalist members while Noah is in the playroom with his friends three floors down," Shlomo began. "You're not using your Kestrel to watch him, today." They stared at each other for a moment before the rabbi finished, "Now you know where your son gets his separation anxiety from."

"I should go see him," Sylar started for the door to the stairs.

Shlomo pulled him back. "He's fine. You need to learn to not hover so much or you will really wreck him as he gets older."

"My job is to protect him from people like me."

"So are you going to stand in the room & watch when he grows up & starts having sex? From ex-murderer to pervert? Now that's quite a feat!" Shlomo laughed. Sylar couldn't answer that with any amount of logic so he remained silent. "I thought not," Shlomo turned the computer screen outward so Sylar could view it. The entire playroom showed up on two frames. Noah was coloring with Jason, perfectly fine. "You're an excellent father, Gabriel. One of the best I've seen. You've done well by him. The bond between you two is strong but if you don't stop smothering him, you will drive him away. Children need to be free to spread their own wings. Yes, it's a cruel world but children need to be taught how to defend themselves from it, not have us constantly getting in the way."

Sylar turned away. "You don't understand what I've seen. What I've been through."

"The entire planet exploding, taking your wife down with it & you had to choose between her & your son."

Sylar gasped & stared at Shlomo. " ... How ... ?"

"The Aptitude, Gabriel," Shlomo answered. "It can tell me what is constantly on your mind & that event is always there. Also, there's this. You've been with us for about a year now so it's more than time I show you something." He pulled Sylar behind the desk, turned the screen back to them & tapped a few keys. A picture of a painting came up of the world divided into three quarters. "Only five people on the planet know of this image right now. I'm showing you since you were there. We know. This image was painted over four thousand years ago & then painted again recently by someone in this day & age. They are practically identical yet the new painter has never seen or heard of the old picture." He pulled up another picture with a similar painting, though much clearer than the first.

Sylar looked at both pictures for a long time. "Where does the second one come from? Do you know who painted it?"

"Yes," Shlomo replied. "It's in America."

Sylar stood straight. "Peter. He painted it, didn't he?"

"Yes," Shlomo closed off the two windows. "THIS was why the inner circle of the Kabbalah was established many eons ago. We combined our faith with the prophetic view of our fate. There is only one thing we don't know but when I first saw you so many years ago when you had time-travelled backwards to establish yourself in Israel, I knew you were the last piece of the puzzle. You want to save your wife. You want this stopped. We all want to stop this. We can work together to find a solution. We just need one thing from you." Sholmo looked at Sylar, waiting for him to figure it out.

It took a while, but his birth power was getting stronger. "How long. You want to know how much time is left & I know since I was there."

"Now, you are getting it, Gabriel," Shlomo said. "You are starting to use that power for what it was meant for."

Sylar hesitated for a moment before saying, "Five thousand years left. Give or take a century or so."

Shlomo sat back in his chair. "That isn't a lot of time."

"It's five millennia!"

"For something as big as this, it isn't a lot of time," Shlomo repeated. "Worse is, out of everyone currently in the Kabbalah, only you will live through everything. Regen is an extremely rare power. Only three walk the earth now who have it. Used to be four but Adam Monroe was a bit of a danger."

"Three," Sylar mused quietly. "Claire & I." He looked out the window for a long moment. "Does Peter have a scar across his face?"

"Yes. He had a bit of an accident a while ago."

Sylar swore badly under breath. "That means he has all his powers again, including Regen. Now, it will be almost impossible to kill him, but I will do it. I will find a way."

Shlomo sighed in annoyance. "You two deal with each other on your own time. Do not drag us down with it."

"I won't," Sylar promised. "My son is here. I do not want him falling into American hands."

"That would not be a good idea," Shlomo agreed.

"What happened to Peter to cause that scar?"

"A dumb accident. Rather hilarious. He was never good at teleporting & he knocked over Hiro's sword."

"Too bad it didn't kill him," Sylar muttered.

Shlomo rolled his eyes. "Dr. Suresh was able to reboot his proper mimicry like us a few months later, but it was too late to heal the old scar & Regen didn't pick up on it."

"So you do watch those in America."

"We watch. Not just America, but any where abilities show up. We do not interfere. It is not our way," Shlomo stood up. "Well, your son will be finished his day in about an hour. You're free to go where you please, now. We have done enough for today."

"Whoa, wait a minute," Sylar glanced around, slightly panicked. Shlomo had never left him alone before now. "You're just going to let me wander around with your friends here in the meantime? What if I kill someone?"

"Gabriel, you have more control over yourself than you ever did under Noah Bennett's care & I use that word loosely," Shlomo gathered up his papers. "You won't kill anyone for abilities ever again." At that, he left the room, leaving Sylar alone & loose among several people who each had a power Sylar didn't have.

Sylar felt for his glasses with one hand, making sure they were in place before slowly moving to the door. The woman he thought he would kill blocked his way. She held out a hand. "You're the one with several powers like the rabbi, right?"

"Yes," Sylar quickly shook her hand for a moment, hoping he wouldn't feel another urge to take that power she had. She could become light, as a ray or shining statue. "You can be very sparkly." He suddenly stupidly said. He closed his eyes in embarrassment. "Ohm'gosh! I can NOT believe I just said that! I'm sorry."

The woman laughed out loud. "It's not the first time I hear that. I'm Ariel."

"Uhh," Sylar blinked. What the hell was his name again? Oh right. "Um, Gabriel Gray."

Ariel looked him over. "You're Sylar. I've heard rumors for months now that you had joined."

"You know about Sylar?"

"He is the object of a lot of study in our ranks."

"I'm not too sure what to say about that."

"Rabbi Gordon was hoping you'd stay with us," Ariel said. "He has Intuitive Aptitude as well."

"You feel safe with him?"

"Why shouldn't I? He'd never hurt anyone!"

"But I have," Sylar pointed out. "You know what I've done if you've studied me."

"We also know it isn't entirely your fault," said Ariel. "You were improperly used by that American Company. It's very different here."

"I've noticed," Sylar looked around for a moment. "People are open in the Kabbalah. I've yet to sense any lies or hidden intentions. So far it seems to be genuine. But always, somewhere, some way, I'm used to finding an agenda. I'd be more surprised if I don't find one here."

"You've been conditioned by America," Ariel said. "You'll be fine here." She paused before asking, "Why do you wear glasses? Your profile says you have the most elusive mystic power of all, Regen."

"Gabriel Gray never hurt anyone," Sylar replied. "Sylar is my alter ego I try to bury under these. Ordinarily, Gabriel is blind worse than a freaking bat!"

"You compartmentalized it," Ariel said after a short laugh. "That's a good way of dealing with it."

"So far, it seems to help."

Ariel moved closer & said in a low tone. "In Hebrew, we don't say Regen but something else." She spoke a word in her native tongue.

"What does that mean?"

"Roughly translated, it means God's own power," Ariel began. "Regen is the most studied power. Few have ever had it. To live undying. Like a god would."

"Ahh, well, I'm not into the religious side of it," Sylar shrugged. "Personally, I don't think any God would have allowed someone like me to exist."

"You think your ability is a curse?"

"Look what I have done to people because of it," Sylar said. "My own future wife as well. I ripped her apart to become immortal & then I took advantage of the fact she forgot about me five thousand years later. I'm really only starting to truly love her now, but it's too late. She dies. I let her die to save our son. Here right now, she hates me for what I've done & knows nothing of Noah. If there is a God, He would not have meant it to be so."

"My people got stuck with Hitler," Ariel said. "We still follow our God. It is people who make bad choices or in your case, were used by bad people. Not God's fault."

"There! That's exactly it. Where the hell was that God of yours during the Holocaust?"

"Our people, our culture was exposed to the world through that," Ariel said. "It is not always clear what purpose some things have, but where there are people like Hitler, there are also people like Schindler. I'm a descendent of the Schindlerjuden. My great-grandfather was one of his Jews."

"You are?" Sylar asked in surprise. "I've heard of him."

"He was a member."

"Schindler was part of the Kabbalah?"

"He was also part of our inner circle," Ariel added. "He had an ability. He could conceal things, or people. Make it look like someone wasn't there when they were standing right in front of you. How do you think he managed to hide over a thousand of us? His ability really helped."

"That certainly wasn't mentioned in the school books I grew up with."

"He kept his ability hidden throughout the war as well," Ariel said. "He only admitted to it many years later, not long before he died." She pushed some hair back from her face, tucked it behind one ear & moved for the door. "I better get home. See you later."

After the door closed behind her, Sylar looked around the large room. It was similar to a library, with several couches & tables set around. Other members were either stretched out on one couch or another or sitting at a table, studying the books in front of them. All seemed to have a Torah & Talmud along with other books most likely about abilities that had shown up in the past. All had at least one ability themselves but Sylar didn't feel an urge to kill them. It really was different here. They accepted him like they did their leader who could just as easily be as dangerous as Sylar, but chose not to. The only difference between them & Sylar was their belief that some God or other had granted these powers. Sylar blamed science gone horribly wrong. But that didn't explain abilities from thousands of years ago.

Sylar finally made his way down to the main floor where Noah would be & took him home. As the days went by & he got deeper into the mysticism side of the Kabbalah, Sylar began to notice something else. Due to school for both Noah & himself, Sylar was getting out more & people were starting to notice him. Mainly the women. Sylar was well aware of his attractive looks for he had used those looks to get his way in the past. He could seduce the most reluctant girl on the planet into his bed, have his way with her & if she had an ability, he could kill her as an added pleasure high for himself & earn another power.

But that seemed alien to him now. He no longer killed for sport but look at Noah wrong & there would be trouble. But more to the point, the females checking him out were all mortals. Sylar missed Claire but wouldn't dare go near her at this time. Five millennia was a long wait but she was the only other immortal worth waiting for. Peter was a guy & he hated the medic's guts, anyway. Really, only Claire was left to him if he turned away from mortal women.

Regen really was becoming a worse curse to him than any other power he had.

It soon became apparent that there were two types who were discreetly checking him out. The younger group were superficially appreciating his physique. The older group however seemed to like that fact that he had a small son tagging along after him wherever he went. He was suddenly more than just an object of desire but Sylar was still too caught up on the past that was also to be a distant future & eventually, he got a simple gold ring to prove he was not 'on the market' right now. It was just him & Noah. Claire would be eons ahead. Whether or not Noah would be there by then remained to be seen. The child still didn't develop any abilities but Sylar wasn't worried about that yet. It was still a few years to go before puberty came when many abilities sprung up all over America in young people. Sylar himself was an adult when his first curse showed up.

Noah, at last, was really starting to settle into the school life. It was his final year of preschool, kindergarten, & soon, he would start grade one. Sylar still did a lot of homeschooling with Noah on the Ipad every evening & spent more time during the weekend since pretty much everyone in the area had other things to do & left the pair alone. Noah was becoming advanced for his age. He could even cook an egg breakfast & knew how to crack them open without breaking a yoke after copying his father's moves several times.

The extra studies ended up pushing Noah ahead to grade two when he was halfway through grade one. It helped Noah adjust to a full day at a state school. He no longer had Jason in class with him for his friend had been sent to a religious school & Noah had to start all over again making friends but he seemed to handle it well. He still found Jason often enough at the playgrounds in between classes.

This caused a problem for Sylar. Whenever Noah was around Jason, he would pick up on things the other boy said or did about the Torah, such as Sabbaths or the feast days or any other faith-related thing. Sylar didn't want to separate the boys any more than what they already were for they seemed to get along great, but he had another talk with Noah about leaving God at the door of their house.

"That's a good idea, Daddy."

"Ok, I'm glad you agree."

"He can keep Elijah company out there."

Sylar stopped & stared at his son. "Who's Elijah?" Noah just shrugged. "Is he a new friend of yours from school? You can invite him in, you know."

"No," Noah said. "Elijah has to come in on his own."

"That's silly," Sylar went to the door, opened it & looked around for the other kid but no one was there. Noah wasn't lying about his new friend Elijah but at the same time, there was no one outside to be found. He finally chalked it up to it probably an imaginary friend & forgot the matter for the time being. It wasn't until the spring almost four months later when Sylar randomly found out that Elijah was a Jewish prophet who never died & would unexpectedly show up at someone's door during the Passover. Sylar shot a glare at his son. "Noah, that's a Jewish thing. We aren't Jews. Just friends of Jews. It won't happen to us anyway because of that, even if it was true."

"It might," Noah said.

"No, we aren't Jews," Sylar repeated. They stared at each other. "Noah, the Sabbath hours are starting soon. Go light the candles."

"Why do we do this since we don't actually keep Sabbath?"

"Well, when you were younger, it was to get you started on fire safety," Sylar explained. "But a lot of your friends are Jewish & this is an important day for them, so it's best you learn their customs so you won't offend them. Technically, it's supposed to be the lady of the house who takes care of the candles, but it's just us, so you can do it. Apart from that, it means nothing to us. Same thing goes for the Menorah."

Noah finished lighting the candles then went to sit at the table. Sylar put a plate down for each of them & sat across from his son. "Daddy, if there was a God, would you hate it?"

Sylar was beginning to feel a need to kill something. Just drop the subject already. It was a trick question. If he said yes, Noah would want to know why. If he said no, Noah would want to know why anyway, since one way or the other, Sylar did indeed hate the very notion of it. "It's of no concern of ours," He finally answered. "We aren't Jews, Noah. It's just a cultural thing."

"But other people believe in God," Noah pressed. "There are three in class who say they are Christian & two say they are Muslim."

"I thought that school was state secular," Sylar muttered under breath.

"They're just visiting."

"Oh well. Thank God for that," Sylar snapped sardonically.

Noah laughed. "You're funny, Dad."

"Noah," Sylar snapped his fingers & pointed at the plate in front of the boy. "Eat or the glasses come off. Now!" Noah sighed heavily but finally shut up & did what he was told. He didn't like Daddy without glasses. Sylar had never laid a finger on the boy but that simple unmasked glare was terrifying. Noah was fortunate to not know just how terrifying it could be. For many, that face was the last thing they saw before they died in a most brutal way.

"Daddy, can I get a puppy for my birthday?" Noah suddenly asked.

Sylar nearly dropped his fork. "You're kidding me ... "

"There's one in Haifa I really like."

Sylar pulled the glasses off part way, but then thought of something. He had never expected to bribe his son with a dog but here was a way out of Noah's religious phase, for it would be just a phase! "If I get you the damn dog, will you stop talking about God in this house?"

"Ok," Noah agreed.

The puppy Noah pointed out to him when they went into the city turned out to be cute enough to win even the likes of Sylar over. It was a purebred little corgi. Noah called it Aviv after the Hebraic name for a spring month. Sylar watched the pair play in the back yard & couldn't help but think of Claire who also had dogs in her life. It's probably where Noah got it from, for he was a lot like his mother. Sylar hoped the boy would continue to be more like Claire. Troublesome though she was, at least she didn't have Sylar's terrible power or a major lust for blood like he did.

Noah & Jason hung out a lot together whenever they were at the playgrounds during the summer. Sylar had even allowed Jason to come over & let the boys play with the dog on the beach in the sand. But thanks to Aviv, Noah didn't mention God to his father again.

Sylar still kept up with homeschooling as much as possible so Noah was well prepared to start grade three while everyone else he knew started grade two. Noah was speaking a lot of Hebrew which Sylar was also learning for the Kabbalah. He was often using Noah's language apps on the Ipad whenever he had a minute alone.

However a few short years later when the school now had the mandatory class of either English or French along with Hebrew, Noah went for French & tried teaching his father, who didn't speak a single word of it. Sylar tried but Noah however, was a very judgmental critic, quick to point out what Sylar was doing wrong & it was almost impossible to please the child if the French was anything less than perfect.

Sylar gave up.

Noah, on the other hand, learned the entire language rather quickly for he had already known several words of it since Jason had French-Canadienne background from his mother & already knew English & French quite well, speaking both around Noah all the time. The only thing Noah had to learn was the difference between Canadienne & real Parisian French.

As far as language was concerned, Sylar did accidentally expose Noah to swearing during a rare snowfall late in winter. Israel hardly ever got snow & this was the first time Noah would experience the white fluff. It was only a few inches that had fallen over night & was still there in the morning when it was time to go to school. So rare was Israeli snow that literally no one was prepared for it: no winter tires or chains, no salt for the little bit of ice. Nothing! Sylar drove slowly & was half wondering if he shouldn't use teleportation when his car went sideways. It spun to a stop right before narrowly missing a tree.

Sylar let out a long sigh of relief before snarling under breath, "Uhh this is exactly why we never went to Canada so we could avoid this shit!" Noah repeated one word his father said that he had never heard before. The very last word. Sylar rolled his eyes shut as Noah said it again. He almost took the glasses off, but it wasn't the kid's fault. It was his. He turned to look into the back seat. "You ok, buddy?" Noah nodded as he clutched Aviv closely & said the word again. "Noah, don't say that one. Daddy gets to say it 'cause he nearly wiped us both out. Adult privilege. Not for you yet, ok?" Noah pouted but fell silent as Sylar turned back to the front just in time to see a load of snow come crashing down onto the window shield, making him yelp in surprise. "AHH Ffff—or ... G—Pete's sake!" He groaned, narrowly avoiding both swearing in front of the child again & the word God in one breath. He hated Peter anyway, so who cares? "Stay put Noah. I'm just going to get out & check the car."

Sylar got out & glared up at the tree that had snow-free branches now that it had dumped it all onto his car, closed the door & went around to the back. Noah turned around in the back seat to watch his father through the window with Aviv by his side. Sylar turned away. "Ohh," He groaned, rubbing one side of his face. "Screw the kid up & it's all on you, Gabriel. Claire isn't here. Can't blame her. It's YOUR fault." He looked around. A moment later he would have died if it weren't for the cheerleader's power. One foot went out from under him & he went down quicker than the Twin Towers, smashing the back of his head on the car so hard, it caused a dent & left a streak of blood from his scalp. He had been standing on a small patch of ice. Sylar lay very still on the ground for a moment as he slowly came to, thanks to the Regen. "Really, really glad I took Claire's power right about now," He moaned as he slowly sat up.

Aviv was soon clamouring into his lap as Noah had come out. "What happened, Daddy? You ok?"

"Ice," Sylar replied weakly. "Ice happened. What do you say we take the day off?" Noah nodded excitedly while Sylar pulled out his phone to call the school. He opened it up & half of it dropped to the ground. "Oh come on!" He complained loudly. "Let's just get home. I will use the land-line."

It was an even slower ride back home. As it turned out, the school was closed down for the day anyway. Noah brought Aviv outside & played in the snow for a while before it disappeared completely late in the afternoon. Noah came inside rather sad. He asked for a long time when more snow would come, but it wouldn't be for a few more years before another snowfall would happen.

To counter the fact that Noah's experience with snow was weak & short-lived, Sylar transported the boy to Alaska as a surprise for his birthday. Noah could get his fill of cold & snow & long dark days for the weekend. While he had fun on the ice, Aviv wasn't so sure & stood by the door of the hotel, one front held paw up. The dog was more entranced by the grand display of the Northern Lights & eventually moved to the front of the porch, but he was much happier when they went back home the next day.

As Noah got older, he was spending more time away from his father. Sylar often followed Noah by using his Kestrel form, but he didn't hover as much as before. Noah would either be at school or finding Jason somewhere in Haifa. For some reason, the two managed to keep contact despite going to separate schools. Tirzah would often be around with Jason & Sylar would stay with Shlomo more often. Tirzah was an excellent caretaker; though, it had taken years for Sylar to half-trust Noah to anyone other than himself.

It seemed an almost normal life at last, almost like how it was before abilities showed up, before he had become Sylar. Now he was like any other person almost, a single father with a pre-teen son but Sylar was beginning to worry about abilities surfacing in Noah. Would his son get the one he was born with? Or pick up any one of the other powers he had taken by force? Or perhaps not develop any ability at all. So far, there was nothing within Noah that Sylar could 'see' with his own power, but he silently fretted over passing on the Gray family curse.

An ability didn't show up at the time but another encounter of faith did when Noah got invited to Jason's bar mitzvah. Naturally, this meant Sylar would have to go as well, being Noah's chaperone.

"They don't mind that we're atheist?" Sylar asked, secretly hopeful it would be a yes.

"Of course not," Noah half-snapped. "We're just going to be with Jason is all."

"I've never set foot in a synagogue," Sylar tried again.

"I've done it twice," Noah admitted. "Jason showed me around inside two of them."

"Was this during services of any sort?"

"No."

"So you boys broke in," Sylar stated.

"Well, no. He had the keys," Noah defended. "His Dad owns one of them & visits the other, often.

"Noah!" Sylar groaned, taking off the glasses & rubbing his face with both hands for a moment. "What if I talk to Jason's parents about it? How do you think they would react?"

"I don't know," Noah shrugged. "It was a couple years ago. What are they going to do about it?"

"I better not hear of another incident like that again," Sylar put the glasses back on before teasing, "When's this bare it all thing again?"

"Dad!" Noah gasped in horror. "What is wrong with you?" Sylar just laughed. Noah rolled his eyes. "You're so weird."

"You have no idea!"

The ceremony wasn't for a few more months which gave them both time to look it up to see what they should wear & how to behave. When the day came, Aviv was left at home as well. Sylar entered the synagogue behind Noah & looked it over while they found seats. "Never thought I'd end up in one of these," he remarked to Noah in a whisper.

"Have you ever been in a religious building before?" asked Noah.

"Catholic church once or twice," Sylar shrugged. "But not for service."

"So you broke in!" Noah accused, smiling.

"Shut up," Sylar grumbled. "Ok fine. First time I was around your age. I was with a couple friends from high school. We went after the wine."

Noah gasped dramatically. "Sacrilege!"

Sylar clipped Noah over the head with the palm of his hand. "I thought I told you to shut up?" Noah bent over in his seat, smothering a laugh.

By the time Noah had recovered, the bar mitzvah had started, so he couldn't ask about the second time, or anything else about his father's past, at the moment. But Noah's attention kept drifting between his father & Jason. It was the first time Sylar had imparted any knowledge about his own life. Noah realized suddenly that his father had secrets, but what they were, he couldn't even begin to imagine. As he sat through the ceremony, he was beginning to see just how many differences there were between his family & Jason's.

Jason had aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins & cousins of cousins. Noah just had his father & Aviv. He knew his mother was dead, but didn't know anything about her, not even her name. Some of Jason's extended family on his mother's side were from Canada & occassionally, the French Canadienne could be heard as that group spoke fast in their native tongue. But some also came from 'the black' as Noah had always referred to the marked zone on the old globe. He knew by now that 'the black' was called America & Mexico but never understood why his father had blotted those from their globe. Another thing was that Jason had loads of pictures of the whole family. Noah had been in his house a few times. There were pictures along the walls of various family members. But at his own home, while there were plenty of pictures of mostly himself & Aviv, with some including his father as well, there was no one else.

Noah pretended to watch Jason, but let his side vision look over his father sitting beside him. He slowly turned his gaze downward to see his father's hands folded in his lap, the old Sylar watch on one wrist. Noah had seen the watch plenty of times before, knew it was broken, but now that he thought of it, why didn't his father ever get a new watch or get this one fixed? He wondered if maybe the watch had been a gift from his mother perhaps & it was all that was left from her. He looked at the gold wedding ring for a moment before looking around, taking a closer look at Jason's family.

Noah soon noticed something else. Some of the other people were old, had graying hair, or bald heads. The older folks had wrinkles as well. Checking his father with a quick side glance, it occurred to him that his father always looked the same. The only thing that would change occasionally would be his hair. Sometimes a bit longer, sometimes cut short, once almost shorn off completely during a particularly hot summer. But it had always been dark colored. Not a single gray hair to be found. Besides that & the differences between wearing glasses or not, there wasn't much of a change.

Looking directly ahead at the person sitting in front of him, Noah could see a small scar running down the back of the man's neck before it disappeared into the collar of his shirt. That was another thing about his father: Noah couldn't remember ever seeing any scars on him. He sometimes saw his father bleed but now that he thought of it, was the blood from his father? It seemed like every time, there was in fact, no wound after all & certainly no scars. Noah glanced down at the watch one last time before directing his full attention to Jason who was just finishing at last.

Once everyone made their way outside, chatting with each other or congratulating Jason, Noah slowly slipped away from his father. He wanted to meet some of the American family Jason had. Keeping an eye on his father, he skirted around the outside & stayed out of sight until Jason's mother had Sylar occupied.

"There you are," Jason snuck up behind Noah & poked him, making him jump.

"Do that again, I'll punch your ugly face in!" Noah snapped, earning a laugh. Jason was anything but ugly.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to get away from Dad."

"Why? Being a bad boy?"

"Jason!" Noah whined. "Bloody brat. No. I just want to meet your American family. You know Dad doesn't like America for some reason."

"So go meet them," Jason shrugged. "I don't think your Dad would mind. Worse comes to worse, just say you wanted to know the difference between American Jews & Israeli ones. Which by the way, there isn't. Well, except the accent maybe."

"Yeah, but I can't lie to him for some reason," Noah pointed out. "He ALWAYS figures it out. Like he feels it or something. Pisses me off, sometimes. Although, I do want to hear what an American sounds like. I could go with that I guess."

Jason grabbed Noah by one hand. "Come on." He dragged Noah along to the other side of the parking lot. "Here. My uncle Adam & my aunt Tabitha. Both are from Utah."

"You're Americans?" Noah asked. "Do you get a lot of snow?"

"Oh yes!" Tabitha replied. "Utah is horrendous in winter."

Adam checked Noah out before asking, "You a friend of Jason's from school?"

"We started together," Jason answered. "But he went to a state school so it kind of separated us. We still hang out in between time."

"I'm not a Jew," Noah said. "We—"

"Oh everyone has some Jewish background," Adam began. "You just haven't found it yet."

"Forgot to warn you about this one," Jason whispered out the corner of his mouth in Noah's ear. "He thinks everyone is Jewish but they just don't know it yet."

"Maybe someday I'll find out," Noah finally held out a hand. "I'm Noah Gray."

"Noah is a very good Jewish name," Adam shook hands approvingly. "Right out of the Torah!" Jason turned away, pinching the bridge of his nose in embarrassment. "Are you parents here as well?"

"It's just me & my Dad," said Noah. "Mom's been dead since I was a baby. Dad's over there."

"Don't mention his name," Jason moaned to himself, unable to do anything.

"Gabriel," Noah finished, not hearing. "Gabriel Gray."

"Gabriel is another good Jewish name," Adam said. "See? I'm sure you have some Jewish ancestry somewhere."

Jason looked to the sky & muttered in Hebrew. "Just kill me now & get it over with!"

"Gabriel Gray," Tabitha repeated slowly. "That kind of sounds familiar but—"

"Of course, dear," Adam interrupted. "It's a good strong name from the Torah."

"Gray is NOT a name from the Torah!"

"But Gabriel is!"

The pair began arguing in Hebrew. Jason put both hands on Noah's arm & yanked hard. "Let's run while we can!"

"I like them," Noah laughed once they were a safe distance.

Jason glared indignantly. "They don't have kids, so they pick on me whenever there's a family reunion & they do that by embarrassing me in front of my friends!"

Noah put up both hands in defence. "Oh no no, don't pin any of that on me!" He teased. Laughing, he stepped backwards several times to avoid Jason's reach. He tripped on something & began falling back, into the street.

"NOAH!" Jason screamed, causing Sylar to whirl around just in time to see a truck slam into his son before it spun out of control until it hit the fence on the other side of the road.

Sylar ran forward, one hand raised to grab his son by force but it was too fast, too late. In an instant, it was over & only a river of blood on the pavement marked where Noah had been run over. "NOAH!" Sylar fell to his knees in the road. "NOOO!"