One question: Who else is excited for Heroes Reborn?

"Olympic Coffee Shop. Is that it?"

"Yup, that's the one."

"How long ago did you say he was here?"

"About a year ago. Look, I know it's not much, but it's the only lead we got. Someone in there might give us something we can use. Some extra information, something we may have overlooked... a direction, a name, a description. Anything is better than what we have now."

"Okay, we'll ask around, see what they can tell us."

"Good luck."

"Thanks."

"I'm still not getting used to it."

Claire handed West his phone back and raised one of her eyebrows at him. "Yeah? Well, you'll just have to deal with it."

"I don't really have a choice, do I? I mean, I left you alone for, what, an hour or so and you do something like that without giving me the heads up? Forgive me for needing time to adjust."

"I've had it for over a week. How much longer do you need?"

He shrugged. "Maybe I'll never get used to it."

"Well, then you've got a serious problem. Cause I'm not planning on changing it back anytime soon."

West gave up. His faked irritable face faded into a broad smile. Claire wasn't able to keep the pretense up either and smiled back at him. It was so easy to pretend that everything was still 'normal' at that moment.

But then Claire turned her head away to look up at the diner and her stomach dropped. There were people inside, she was able to see them through the windows. Six or seven, by the looks of it. That was going to be risky. She hadn't been out in public for so long... What if one of them recognized her? What if they called the police? What if she got caught?

West noticed her concern and before she knew it, he already had his hand on her shoulder. "They won't know it's you. Trust me, they won't. I barely even recognized you when I first saw you and I'm not the only one. You look so different."

Claire nodded. "If you say so." He did give her a funny look when she showed him her change of hair color for the first time. "Has 'cheering me up' suddenly become your life goal or something?" she asked in a teasing tone. Whenever she doubted herself or when she felt anxious, he would always try to distract her or make her feel better one way or the other. It was nice, having someone (who wasn't family) care for her like that.

West shrugged. "Maybe. You just look like you need it. Although... I shouldn't have to be cheering you up at all. I mean, let's face it. You're supposed to be the cheerleader here, not me."

There, he was doing it again. "I'm just nervous," Claire admitted.

"If they find out who you are, we'll leave right away. I promise. But we can't leave until we've tried. Micah's right. This is our only lead."

And they were going to follow that lead.

They had to find Luke.

West turned to the diner. "Okay, let's focus. What do we know about this kid? He's got an ability. Which one, we don't know, but it's definitely an ability."

"And we know he's been here," Claire continued. "Micah said that Danko's team was following him and that they stopped here. He didn't get caught, we know that too. So, he either fought them or ran away... or both. Either way, he has been here. And someone must have seen him."

"Our only hope is that one of those people in there was here on that same day. If not... then there's nothing we can do about it. Then we'll just have to forget about the whole thing and find someone else to help."

Claire really wanted this to work, to find the boy. It kind of felt like she was working on an assignment, but not like the ones her dad used to do for the Company. She and West were doing this their own way, without rules, without weapons, without violence. "Let's go inside. We're drawing way too much attention."

They went inside and chose to sit down on the bar stools closest to the entrance. They had to take precautions in case they needed a fast escape. In case anybody recognized Claire and called the police, because that was still a possibility. Even her raven brown hair was no guarantee that she wouldn't be recognized. She didn't think they would call the police right away, but she had to make sure she stayed under the radar as long as possible.

"Have you seen this kid?" West asked the owner of the diner, after they both ordered a coffee and paid right away. He was holding up a picture of Luke, the one Danko's team had used while tracking down Luke.

"Hold it closer, lad. How am I supposed to answer that when you hold it like that? Let me see... Hey, I've seen this picture before."

"You have?"

"Yeah. You're not the first to come in here and ask about that boy."

West exchanged a quick look with Claire. Luck was on their side today. "What can you tell us about him?" he pressed on.

"Not much. Just the same thing I told the feds: I bought this place about five months ago. Everything that happened before that time is unknown to me and I'd really like it to stay that way." He looked at the photo and muttered, "Damn rumors."

"What rumors? Rumors about him?" West asked as he pointed at Luke's photo. "What have you heard?"

Claire kept quiet and listened intently. West sounded a little too excited, but then again, he was no detective. Neither was she. They weren't trained for these kind of things. They were just improvising.

The man behind the bar saw their curious faces and furrowed his brow. "Look, I don't know why you're looking for that boy, but I suggest you stop doing it. Right now."

"Why's that?" Claire asked.

"He's bad news. Do you have any idea how much I had to pay for the damage he did to this place? Or how long it took for them to clean the parking lot? Like I said, I wasn't here when it happened, but if I have to believe the things they told me... Just... Don't go looking for him. Take my advice, it's for your own good."

The owner seemed to be done talking and started to walk away, but West wasn't done yet and pressed further. "What things?"

The man turned around. "Did you not hear what I just said?" He sighed in frustration and muttered under his breath, "Teenagers..."

"Sir..." West began politely, "this boy is my nephew. He's been reported missing about a year ago and he still hasn't been found. They're probably not even looking for him anymore. Do you have any idea how that feels? How frustrating it is to not know where he is? What if he's alone? What if something's wrong or worse, what if he's dead? I'm sick and tired of sitting around and having to wait for the police to find him! They'll never find him. I'm looking for him now, I'm taking matters into my own hands."

Claire looked at West from the corner of her eye. He was making it all up. How he did it, how he made it all sound so credible was a mystery to her, but he certainly would make a great actor.

She knew she was supposed to keep quiet and let West do the talking, that's what they agreed, but it left her feeling absolutely useless. Definitely not what she was hoping for when she got the green light to help out.

"So, I'm asking you, please, tell me everything you know about what happened here. I don't even care if it's not true, if it's all made up or blown out of proportion. Anything is better than nothing."

"Nephew, huh?" The owner gestured with his head in Claire's direction. "Then who's she?"

Claire wanted to answer that question herself, but West beat her to it.

"My girlfriend," he said.

My what? Claire thought, perplexed. She tried to hide how much she was taken aback by West's answer, but wasn't sure if it worked. West could have said anything. She could have been his sister, his niece or just a friend, but he had chosen that specific word. Was that supposed to be some sort of hint? Did he want her to be his girlfriend? Was this his way of telling her? Or was she just overreacting?

"Oh, alright. Just give me a couple of minutes. I have more customers, y'know."

Claire gave him a friendly smile before he walked off to help a man on the other side of the bar. She waited until he was out of earshot and whispered to West, "Girlfriend?"

"He was never going to believe that we're family," he whispered back, "so I said you're my girlfriend. What's the big deal? I thought it was the most logical explanation."

"You could've said that we're family."

"We don't really look like each other, Claire."

"Ssh..." Claire glanced around her for a moment, to see if anybody had heard them. But it seemed like everybody was still minding their own business. "Careful... Why do you have to look like each other to be family? I don't look like my brother."

"Yeah, but that's because you're adopted."

"But we are still family!" she hissed.

West rolled his eyes and stooped his head. "What's the big deal? It was just a little white lie to get more information about Luke. Why are you freaking out about this so much?"

The owner returned with a couple of dirty cups on a tray. "I don't think rumors are going to help you find your nephew," he told West.

"Like I said, it's better than-,"

"Nothing. Yes, I heard you the first time. Okay, listen carefully, 'cos I'm only gonna say this once." The man sighed and leaned forward on the counter. "So, apparently the lad came in here someday, ordered some food, a drink maybe, nothing unusual really, until a bunch of federal agents suddenly stormed in. I don't know what kind and I don't care. All I know is that they were here looking for that kid. And his father."

Claire frowned, first at West, then at the owner. "Father?"

"Yes, that's what I said. He was here with his father. Again, not my words." The owner looked at Claire as if she was going to interrupt him again, but she didn't. She kept quiet, so he resumed, "I heard there were guns being fired. The damn window shattered to pieces. As I said, there was a lot of damage. Had to pay the damn bill myself. The father left and drove off without the kid. The lad was left to fend for himself and that, they say, was when it happened."

"What happened?"

The man bent forward even further to keep whatever he was going to say from prying ears and whispered, "He killed them. Those agents, none survived. There was blood all over the parking lot. I mean..." he cleared his throat and straightened, "they're just rumors, but a kid like that... No offence, but it sounds like he came straight out of a horror movie."

"Is that it?" West asked, impatiently.

"Hey, watch your tone, boy. I told you everything I know. Stop being so damn ungrateful."

West forced a smile and thanked the owner with a nod of his head. He left the bar and took his coffee to one of the tables.

Claire took her own cup and followed in silence. She sat down opposite from West and sipped from her lukewarm coffee. He was obviously way more upset about the rumors than she was. She didn't know why. So, Luke had killed those agents. He must have tried to defend himself from Danko's men and probably used his ability to do so. There was a good chance that he didn't even have it under control yet.

But this, these rumors, they weren't of much help. Not if they wanted to find Luke. Not everything what West said was a lie. It was extremely frustrating to not know where Luke was. There was a good chance that he was either alone, sick, or dead. He could've gone anywhere after he was found and almost captured. He could be on the other side of the planet for all they knew.

Some crappy assignment, chasing a boy who hasn't been seen or heard of for over a year.

"I don't get it," West suddenly said. "I thought Luke's father was out of the picture. That it was just him and his mother."

"He must've come back for him..." Claire looked sideways and thought she caught someone, a man, looking their way, before quickly turning back to reading his newspaper. Did that just really happen or was she imagining things? Did he just recognize her? And if he did, was he going to do something about it?

Claire sighed. Her fear was making her paranoid again. "That doesn't make any sense," she said, trying to keep to the matter at hand. "His father came back for him, just to leave him on his own again when Danko's team came? Something's not right there."

"Why did you freak out?"

She frowned at the sudden change of topic. "What?"

"When I said that you were my girlfriend. Why did you freak out about that?"

"I didn't." I did. Denying it was pointless, but she did it anyway. It was just so... out of the blue. Of course it freaked her out.

"Okay..." West started fumbling with his spoon nervously as he looked down at the utensil. "Look, I know it's pretty obvious how I feel about you, Claire," he blurted. "It's just that I have no idea how you feel about me." He let go of the spoon and looked up. "I know it was a long time ago and so much has happened since then, but for me... nothing has changed. I wish I handled things better back then. I wish I had given us another chance. Yeah, you lied about your dad, but I get why you did it and I'm pretty sure I would have done the same."

Whoa. "I shouldn't have lied," Claire admitted quietly. "You don't need to make up excuses for me. I know I screwed up."

West waved it away. "So did I. But that's all in the past now. I just want to forget it ever happened."

"You do?"

"Yes."

Claire looked into those puppy dog brown eyes of his and momentarily wondered what it would be like. To have a boyfriend. To be in a real relationship for once in her life. One that lasted longer than a day. Longer than a year, maybe even one that would last a lifetime. Growing old with someone you love and will always keep loving till the end of your days. Marriage, settling down, starting a family, it all sounded too good to be true.

It was too good to be true. In the end it would all come down to the one thing that always prevented anyone from getting close to her all those years, the one thing she had been trying to avoid for so long.

It was not until she had that one particular conversation with Sylar that she realized how much of an impact her ability really had on her life. Immortality had always been the big elephant in the room. She couldn't die. She couldn't grow old. She was going to outlive her family, her friends... basically everyone except the one person she hated most. How was she supposed to start a relationship with someone whose life span was so much shorter than hers? Someone who was going to grow older, look older and feel older, while she stayed forever young...

Claire sat back in her chair and looked down. Was that enough reason to stay alone the rest of her life? To ignore every single feeling she might have for another person? Would she be able to do that?

Her mind still drifted to Gretchen every once in a while. She came really close to have something real there, something worth fighting for. But after putting Gretchen's life in danger again, she had decided to cut all ties. It had been painful, but absolutely necessary. Gretchen was going to find someone else, someone normal. And she was going to be in a normal relationship, one that wasn't going to get her killed.

"Claire? Can you please say something?"

Claire had no idea what to tell him. Did she still have feelings for him? Yes. Were they as strong as they once were? No, not really. Or maybe they were. She wasn't sure. Maybe she just couldn't let herself feel that way for anybody anymore. Certainly not now, with everything going on at the moment.

"This isn't really the right time to think about stuff like that," was her response.

"When is the right time?" West asked. He sat up straight and threw his hands in the air. "What are we waiting for? For things to get better? For them to leave us alone? They won't. But I'm not going to wait to say what I've got to say until it's too late." He took her hands in his and looked her straight in the eyes. "You're one of the greatest people I've ever met, Claire. From the first moment I saw you, I knew that you were special. And not just because of your ability. You're special to me for so many reasons."

Claire looked down at their hands and smiled faintly. She didn't want to turn him down, but she couldn't tell him she wanted the same thing either. Somehow, she knew he would never accept her immortality as an argument. She decided to tell him she wasn't ready and that she was going to need more time to figure out her feelings when she suddenly heard her name.

"I'm telling you, it's her."

"You sure?"

"One hundred percent."

Claire stood and West immediately followed her lead. She wasn't being paranoid, the man did recognize her.

Meaning: she and West had to leave. They had to get out and as far away from the diner as possible.

With a protective arm around her shoulder from West, Claire left through the front door and made her way towards the road. The confession West just made about his feelings didn't stop her from wrapping her arms around his neck, like she always did. He was still her only way of transportation.

Together, they launched up in the air and stopped to look down for a moment. A small crowd of people had gathered outside the diner and was looking up at them, gaping and shielding their eyes against the sunlight.

West turned his head in an awkward position, so he was able to look at Claire. "Do you wanna go back?" he asked.

Claire scanned the area. It was a bit weird to talk while flying, but West didn't seem to be bothered about it, so why should she? "Just follow the road for a while," she said. She wasn't ready to give up on their assignment yet. She was still determined to find Luke. Even if it seemed like an impossible thing to do.

Next Chapter: A Chip of the Old Block