After apologising to Hiro's sister for calling to her brother's phone and not being able to explain why, Noah had hung up. He wasn't sure if she knew about her brother's ability, so he had spoken carefully. Not that it mattered. Kimiko told him she hadn't seen or heard from Hiro in months, nor had she heard from her fiancé (which turned out to be Hiro's friend Ando).

Noah needed Hiro, though. Time-travelling was the only way to get back to the way things were before. Perhaps if they took the time, planned everything out to avoid making massive mistakes, they could still do it. They could still change the past. Like Hiro once did when he told Peter to save the cheerleader. That must have been a tough decision for Hiro to make. He must have thought it through over and over again, making sure he wouldn't make things worse by travelling to the wrong place or the wrong time.

It was actually pretty impressive, as Noah thought about it. Hiro (future Hiro) must have considered every single option and outweighed every single outcome to determine which one would be the right one. He had to be thinking several moves ahead and still he couldn't have predicted all the things that happened after New York did not explode. Very impressive, indeed.

It could be done again. Noah just had to find Hiro first.

The last time he saw Hiro was in the hospital, where René had wiped his memories just like he had done with Peter. But that was more than two months ago. Hiro could be anywhere by now. He had not visited his sister, which only meant he didn't come home. That just left a billion other places where he could be. Hiro might not even be in the same time-line as Noah was.

How on earth was he going to find that Japanese time-traveller slash teleporter?

Of course, Molly was the first person he could think of. She could easily find Hiro. If she remembered what Peter looked like, then she would mostly definitely remember Hiro. Noah would have to call Mohinder first to get to her, though, and he didn't know if Mohinder would appreciate it if he called again. Hadn't he said something about getting his old job back and finding peace? But surely he would understand if Noah explained the situation? He was as much a part of all this as the rest of them.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Noah made the call.

Unfortunately, it went straight to voicemail, but Noah left no message. He would have to try again later. Or Mohinder would call back. There wasn't really anything he could do about that now. Instead, he scrolled down his list of contacts and watched dozens of names flash before his eyes. The names of the people he had learned to know in the recent years. Enemies who were once friends. Friends who were once enemies. Most of them were people with abilities, others were ex-colleagues from his time at the Company and Homeland Security. Not many of them survived Tracy Strauss' vengeance.

Next on the list to call was Sandra. Noah had to speak to her, he had to know that she and Lyle were okay. He felt anxious about talking to her after not having spoken to her for so long, but it had to be done.

He pressed 'call' and waited and waited and waited some more until Sandra finally picked up her phone.

"Is something wrong with Claire?" was the first thing she said.

No greeting, straight to the point, as expected. Noah didn't blame her. He knew he would have reacted the same way if she had called him. Her choice of words, however, indicated that she knew something was going on. Something with Claire. "Why would you ask me that?"

"Because I have the right to know what's going on with my daughter, Noah. What's happening? Why is the FBI looking for her?"

"The FBI is looking for her?" he asked, and his confusion was real. It wasn't so much the fact that they were looking for her, because he was aware of that already. It was more the manner in which she was searched for. They made it look like Claire had committed some terrible crime or something. "What did you tell them?"

"The same thing I keep telling your son. That she's with you." There was a long pause on the other side of the line, followed by an irritable grunt. "Noah!"

"What?"

"Is she with you or not?"

He normally would have said 'yes'. He normally would have lied and said that Claire had actually just gone outside to get some groceries. But he wanted to stop lying, no matter how tempting it was to say that everything was fine. "No," he answered.

"No?!" Sandra exclaimed in dismay. "Where is she then?"

"I don't know." There was a lot of freaking out going on Sandra's part after that. He heard things such as 'is this some sort of sick joke?' and 'how can you not know?' and 'the FBI is looking for her, Noah!' He waited until he was sure he could talk again without being interrupted at and began calmly, "She can take care of herself, Sandra. You know she can. She has proven it to us numerous times. Besides, they haven't even found her yet."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because they told me." Noah didn't want Sandra to think he wasn't taking her serious, so he explained, "They just told me that they've been looking for her for a while now, but haven't been able to find her. That it's difficult to find her. They also said that I will help them. That I have no choice."

"You're not going to, though. Are you?"

"Of course not, but that's why I'm calling. I want you and Lyle to be extra careful from now on." He heard her protesting again, but rudely interrupted. "Sandra, listen to me. You're not in danger, you won't get arrested. You haven't done anything wrong. I just want you and Lyle to be careful. I can't..." he took a deep breath to say the words he dreaded most. "I can't be there for the two of you if something happens. But I know you have Dave."

"Doug," Sandra corrected.

"Douglas, of course." Noah still remembered the jealousy he felt the first time he heard Douglas' voice instead of Sandra's. Thank God, it was Sandra who answered this time, because he never once liked Douglas.

Douglas made his blood boil.

"Noah?"

"Promise me you'll call whenever you or Lyle are in trouble."

"But..."

"Promise me." He needed to hear her say it.

"Okay. I promise."

Noah breathed a silent sigh of relief. "That's all I needed to hear." He didn't think the government or whoever was behind this would go after his ex-wife and son, but he could never be sure. Abby had a reason to believe he would help them find Claire and a pretty good one too. Otherwise she wouldn't have been so damn confident.

"I miss her, Noah," Sandra suddenly said.

"I know," he said quietly. "I do too." He didn't even want to know where Claire was anymore. That information could be dangerous once they found out that he had it. The less Noah knew, the better it was for Claire. "There's actually a way to know that she's save, though." If what Abby said was true, that was. "She's fine as long as she doesn't appear on television."

"That's just great," Sandra said, not even trying to hide the sarcasm in her voice.

Noah realized that it wasn't really a comforting thought at all. He watched the news all the time, it was one of the few things he was still able to do. He did it to find out how the world was dealing with abilities, but now he would only be looking for news about Claire. Curiosity had suddenly been replaced by fear.

"Thank you, Noah, for being honest."

Another realization. He had not lied to Sandra. Not even once. He had been truthful about the entire thing. There hadn't been any reason to lie, but still. Noah just hoped that Sandra wouldn't see it as a one-time thing. "I'm trying a different approach. What do you think?" He heard her sniff and swore it was out of laughter. It sounded positive. "I know, I know. Better late than never."

"Noah..." she warned him, but it was playful, not angry. "I need to go now. Mr Muggles has an appointment with the dentist."

Of course. That dog always came before anyone else. "Is Lyle there?"

"He's still asleep."

"How's he coping with all of this?"

"Why don't you ask him yourself? I can wake him, if-"

"No, no. I don't want you to wake him. I'll call back another time. If that's okay with you, of course..."

"He's your son too, Noah. Of course it's okay with me if you call him." Another pause. "I gotta go now. Bye, Noah."

"Take care."

He sat on that bed all day, thinking and making phone calls. But just like Mohinder's, they all went straight to voicemail. Matt Parkman, Tracy Strauss, Micah, Edgar, René, Angela, Peter, he hadn't be able to reach anyone of them. And so he sat there, his phone in one hand, his face in the other, getting more worried as the hours passed by.

He needed Lauren. He needed to see her, to know that she was fine and to tell her everything that had happened.

It took her ages to get home. She texted him beforehand with the idea to bring Chinese food, but he forgot to answer. He thought he did, but he didn't. When she finally did come home, Noah barely noticed it. He never left the bedroom. Hell, he had been sitting on the exact same spot all day. He had not done any of his exercises, he had forgotten to eat, to drink, to shower. He had not even dared to turn on the TV in fear of seeing his daughter's face.

"Noah?" Lauren asked when she stood in the doorway.

He made a confirming humming sound to acknowledge her presence, but nothing more.

"Noah, I just found my gun in the kitchen. Did you put it there?"

He had totally forgotten about the gun. Just like everything else it had just... slipped his mind. No beating around the bush then. "I had a visitor this morning."

"Oh," Lauren said as she put her gun in the back of the top drawer of her nightstand. "Let me guess… Abby Collins?"

Noah turned his head and raised one of his eyebrows. "She came to see you too?"

"Oh, God no. I think I would've punched her in the face if she had had the courtesy to talk to me in person." Lauren looked like she was about to explode. "No, she called, asking me all sorts of questions about the Company... That woman thinks a lot of herself, doesn't she? If I had known… If only I had known that it would come to this, I would never have trusted her."

"Tell me about it." Noah grimaced. He felt exactly the same. "It's always her," he then realized. "It's always her. Why is it always her? I mean, you'd think a woman in her position wouldn't make house calls and phone calls when she could have others do it for her."

"She doesn't want too many people to know what it is she's doing. Not many of those who worked at the Company know about the Walker system and I think she wants to keep it that way."

"What?" Noah stood and instantly felt a cramp in his leg from sitting in the same position all day. "Damn it..." He already saw Lauren moving towards him, but he held out his hand and shook his head to keep her away. "It's okay, I'm fine. What's all this got to do with the Walker system?"

"She wants to know what it is." Lauren looked at him quizzically. "I thought you said she was here?"

"She was, but she never mentioned the system." It was Noah's turn to look confused. What was that all about? Why would Abby ask Lauren about the system, but not him? Maybe she thought he didn't know. But that didn't make any sense either. "She only told me about this database and then practically ordered me to help them find Claire… But if she's after the Walker system and she finds it, she won't be needing my… help..." Noah looked away and frowned.

"She won't find it. I called the others, Noah. They won't breathe a word about the system."

It started to make sense. Some of the pieces suddenly fell together. Noah looked back at Lauren and smiled faintly. "She's very clever."

Lauren frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"Abby knows I have access to the system. Damn it, she knows. Remember that morning after Samuel failed to destroy New York?"

"Yeah, of course."

"You remember how desperate we were to find Sylar?" Lauren nodded her head. "I told her where to find him. I told her all I had to do was make a phone call and after I did I... Damn it!" the realization of what he had done hit him with full force. "I told her it was someone who found him. I told her it was someone with an ability who found him." Noah felt so stupid, all he wanted to was bang his head against a wall. Lauren didn't say anything, which he was grateful for. "When did I become so damn naïve?" he asked as he sat back down on the bed, his hands covering his face.

"You say it like it's a bad thing."

"Isn't it?"

Lauren sat down next to him. "Noah..." she began with a sigh. "Do you know how skeptical you used to be? I know, because I used to be exactly the same. The Company made us that way." She looked at him with a hint of pride. "But I think Claire changed that. I think she changed you. Her hope, her faith has affected you more than you'd like to admit." She nudged him with her shoulder and added, "That's not necessarily a bad thing, y'know."

No, but it made me careless. There was no point in feeling sorry for himself though. What's done was done. "We need to find Hiro Nakamura," he said to change the subject.

"Why?"

"He can undo everything."

"You can't be serious..." Lauren looked at him, but realized he was in fact very serious about the matter. She sighed deeply and stood. "I understand that you need to protect Claire, but nothing has even happened yet and you're already considering time-travelling. Not everything has to be solved with abilities, Noah." She left the bedroom.

When Noah heard the sound of plastic bags, he followed. It took him longer to get to the kitchen than Lauren and that slightly annoyed him. "Nothing happened?" he hissed. "I haven't been able reach any of them. Coincidence? I don't think so." He didn't mean to sound so agitated, but he had to if he wanted to get through to her. He had to get through to her. "I bet they are all out there, hiding somewhere, because they don't want their names on some list. Who would?"

"You called them?" Lauren seemed to be ignoring his annoyance.

"Yeah," Noah replied as he threw his phone on the table, like calling them was the most obvious thing he could have done. "This is more than just a list, Lauren. This is more than just an assurance that the situation is being contained. And sure, those people out there, the common folk, they'll buy the story. It's not like they're simple minded, but this is what they wanna believe. They want to watch their favourite sports games, without having to worry that one of the players is better than the others because of some 'ability' he might have. I get that. But we know better, Lauren. We know that this is their way of keeping an eye on those who are strong enough to revolt. Revolt, Lauren," he emphasised, "against the government. And that's what scares them."

Lauren seemed to be thinking it through in silence. She could neither deny nor acknowledge Noah's theory, but she shook her head like it didn't matter either way. "You can't help them."

"What, because of this?" he said, gesturing at his leg. "That's not gonna stop me."

Lauren looked at Noah disapprovingly for a moment, when his phone suddenly started to vibrate. Just for a second, and then it stopped. A text message appeared on the screen.

Noah nodded his head at Lauren. She was standing closer to the table and he didn't mind her going through his phone. He had no more secrets, no more lies to maintain. Certainly not for an ex-co-worker.

He watched her pick it up from the table and stare at it wordlessly. Eventually she lifted her head and handed him his phone back.

Noah read the text.

The message was loud and clear.

Let us handle it

- Rebel

Noah stared at it, just like Lauren had done, until the corners of his mouth started to twitch into a smile. He looked back up at Lauren and saw her smiling back at him.

"Let's eat," he suggested.

Next Chapter: First Assignment