"Are you okay?"

"'Course I am."

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

"There's nothing to talk about. I'm fine. I really am. I'll see you in a bit, okay?"

"Okay."

Claire entered the school through one of the emergency exits and headed straight for the girl's restrooms. She was desperately in need of some alone-time. She needed to think, to get her head sorted before she had to face the others again.

They had been staying in the old school building for about two weeks. The old teachers' lounge was where they ate, slept and basically discussed all of their plans. The lounge included a small kitchen, two old couches, a couple of well-worn chairs and a table. Micah had claimed the headmaster's office to do whatever he needed to do there and that was basically all they needed. The rest of the building, the classrooms, the canteen, the locker rooms, all remained unused.

As Claire walked through the corridors with rotten coat racks on the walls and cobwebs on the ceiling, she thought about how to approach this thing with Micah. What almost happened to her wasn't his fault, but he could have told her. He could have warned her not to go there. If he had done that, she wouldn't have gone anywhere near that place and nothing bad would have happened.

But for some reason he had decided not to tell her and that was quite frustrating. He must have known about Sylar's father living there. He knew everything. Literally, everything. His ability allowed him to hack into any computer and to connect with any cell phone, anywhere in the world. The chance that he had missed this bit of information was just too small.

And then there was West. The gun West had used to shoot that man, turned out to be her dad's. That's what he told her. Her dad had given it to him when he was in hospital. While she went to talk to Peter on the roof, West and her dad had their own little chat, behind her back. How he had been able to hide that thing for so long was still a mystery to her.

And she wanted to get angry with him as well for not mentioning anything sooner, but she decided not to. If her dad had not given his gun to West, he couldn't have used it to shoot Sylar's father. And if he hadn't shot that man... Well, that would have been a total disaster. Not only for her, but for the rest of the world as well. History would have repeated itself. Another killer would have been out on the loose to go and do as he pleased, hunting and killing innocent people with abilities. But that didn't happen because her dad and West had gone behind her back and made some kind of deal to protect her.

Not only did they save dozens if not hundreds of people with abilities, they also saved Claire from another traumatic experience.

It had nothing to do with fear. She knew exactly what was going to happen to her, once she knew who that man was. She knew how bad it was going to be, because she still remembered how it felt after the first time it had happened, how it has changed her life for good.

It was something she wanted to forget as soon as possible, but as she stood in front of the mirror in the girls' restrooms, looking at her own face and seeing the blood on her cheek, that's when it all came back to her.

It was the memory of that man, the way he had looked at her, leered at her from under those eyebrows. He wanted her power so badly. She saw it in his eyes, how much he yearned to be like her. It was disgusting. She was disgusted by him. The whole idea of him wanting to cut her head open was absolutely disgusting and yet, she couldn´t help imagining what it would have been like if he had succeeded. The memory of what Sylar did to her was all she needed to get that image inside her head.

That old man's long, bony fingers, calloused and wrinkled, with finger nails, long and dirty, trailing over her head and through her hair. Scraping over the surface of her skin, making horrible sounds and leaving marks that would not heal instantly. Going from the back of her head towards the front, clawing and scratching, making their way to the deeper cut just above her eyebrows. His other hand curling around her throat to keep her steady, nails digging deep into her skin, deep enough to draw even more blood. His fingers tips, already wet and red with blood, gliding through the gap in her forehead, underneath skin, underneath flesh, feeling their way to the sharp edge of the crack he would have made in her skull.

Claire grabbed both sides of the sink for support and averted her eyes from her own reflection. She felt disgusted and sickened by the thought of what almost happened in that house. And even though it was never her intention to go in there and to become a victim once more, she still felt ashamed and embarrassed for almost letting it happen. She hadn't been able to protect herself, again. She had been powerless, again.

That had to change. Something had to change in order to prevent these type of situations from happening again. West wasn't always going to be there to protect her. Nor was her dad or Peter or anyone else for that matter. People were always going to try to take what she had. That was a fact. But that didn't mean that she would make it easy for them. The next time they came for her, she would be ready.

It was her dad's gun, hidden underneath her blouse, in the waistband of her jeans, that was going to help her protect herself. She had decided to keep it. West didn't look like he was going to use it anytime soon and Claire felt, in some way, that it was meant to be hers all along. That it was her dad´s plan for her to have it all along. She had no idea how to use it properly, but she would find time to practice. She didn't know how or when, but she would. One way or the other.

She slowly lifted her head to look at her own face and saw that her make-up was running. Black streaks of mascara blended with the redness of blood on her left cheek. That was where he had made the first cut. Just to watch it happen. No matter how much he wanted the ability, no matter how much he longed for the immortality, he had to see it with his own eyes first.

That had been his first mistake. His curiosity had made him slow and careless, which had given West all the time he needed to find out where Claire was and eventually resulted in that man's own death.

Claire turned on the tap to wash the blood from her face, only to be reminded that there was no water. No water, no gas, no electricity. Nothing worked since the school went bankrupt and had to close in the year of 2003, according to Micah. There was no other option but to use her own saliva again.

She was almost finished when she suddenly heard voices.

Ready or not, it was time to face the others. Hiding in the toilets for the rest of her life just wasn't an option. This was her idea, they were all here because of her and she couldn't stop after just one incident.

She dried her face with the sleeve of her blouse and breathed out a shaky breath.

The formal teachers' lounge, that's where they were, as usual. Claire wiped her cheek one more time before entering. She opened the door and walked in slowly. The three men stopped talking and turned their heads as soon as she entered the room.

Edgar was the first one to greet her. "Look who's finally back from her romantic getaway," he teased. "How did it go?"

Claire faked a smile as she closed the door behind her. "Not so great." She wasn't looking at Edgar as she gave him his answer. She was looking at someone else. Someone whose presence came as a total surprise to her. "Dr. Suresh?"

Mohinder greeted her with a simple nod of his head and smiled. "Hello, Claire." He frowned at her and added, "you look different."

"Yeah." Claire closed the door behind her and moved further into the room. Each time she ran into someone she had known in the past and who had an ability, she didn't know how to talk to them. She didn't know how they felt about what she had done. If they were angry or glad with what she did, relieved or disappointed with the decision she made. "I thought it'd be easier if I looked different."

"And is it?"

"No." It was at first, but those men in that diner had recognized her eventually. "But it doesn't really matter, does it? It's all just temporary." Mohinder didn't seem to be upset with her. Not at all. His tone of voice was very friendly and he seemed to be quite comfortable. It was possible that he was just trying to be nice. Maybe he didn't agree with her decision at all and he was, in fact, trying very hard to hide his disappointment in her. "Did Micah tell you to come here?"

"He has been helping us, yes."

"That's good." It was good to hear that at least one of them hadn't failed. Claire wanted to ask who he meant by 'us', but Eli spoke before she had the chance to do so.

"Micah wants to see you, Claire."

"Now?"

"Whenever you want. He's got something to tell you."

I've got something to tell him as well. Claire grimaced at the thought of talking about what almost happened to her. It was a subject she always avoided in the past, but couldn't avoid any longer. "Is it serious?"

Eli shrugged as he put his feet on the coffee table. "Don't know. He didn't sound serious to me."

"It's probably got to do with what her uncle did," Edgar said to Eli. He was sitting on the other side of the couch, with one of his legs folded under the other. "Self-righteous bastard. Can you believe he almost decked me for what I used to do for Samuel? And then he told me I should have used my power to do 'good' things." He gave a derisive snort and turned his head to look at Claire. "I'm sorry, but it's true. He's done much worse than I ever did."

Claire had to take a moment to make sure she heard Edgar right. Did he just call Peter a self-righteous bastard? She glanced at Mohinder and Eli, but they looked like they didn't know much about it either. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You haven't heard?" Edgar also looked at Eli and Mohinder for support, but they kept quiet. "It's all over the news." He turned his head in Claire's direction again and shifted in his seat. "You should talk to Micah."

"Okay..." Claire turned around and walked out of the room with a sense of dread. She had no idea what was going on. Edgar was acting very strange. He knew something about Peter and so did Micah.

She quickened her pace. What she wanted to tell Micah had to wait.

Micah had all his equipment installed in the headmaster's office. He had been staying there day and night for over a week and only ever left that room when he needed to go to the bathroom. It wasn't a healthy way to live and that's what Claire had been trying to tell him, but he didn't think it was a big deal. He had been living like that for months, so who was Claire to tell him what to do, after taking care of himself for so long?

Claire knocked on the door, heard Micah respond and entered. He wasn't alone. A girl, about Micah's age by the look of it, sat next to him and simply waved her hand when Claire walked in.

"Hey, Claire." Micah didn't look up as he greeted her. He kept his eyes on the screen of his laptop.

"Hey." Claire frowned, but quickly formed it into a smile. The girl looked strangely familiar. "Who are you?" She didn't mean to sound harsh, but she was kind of in a hurry. She had to talk to Micah.

"Oh, this is Molly," Micah said as he closed his laptop and sat back in his chair. "I've told her and Dr. Suresh where we were and helped them to get here."

"That's great. Nice to meet you, Molly." Claire returned the girl's smile and turned back to Micah. "Micah, can we talk?" She didn't mind talking about Peter with Molly in the room, but if she was going to ask him about Sylar's father, the girl had to leave. It was way too personal and too awkward to talk about in the presence of someone she didn't know. "Alone?"

"Yeah, sure." Micah got up from his chair and followed Claire into the hallway. "I actually wanted to talk to you sooner. I called West, but he didn't answer his phone. Did something happen?"

Claire waited until Micah had closed the door behind him, until she felt safe enough to talk. As she stood before him she noticed how tall he had gotten. It was like he was getting taller with each passing day. "Something... happened. But we can talk about that later? Edgar mentioned something about Peter. Did you find him?"

"Not exactly. I mean, I've tried to find him and I've tried to get in contact with him, but he's not answering." Micah looked tired. He had dark circles under his eyes and his voice was hoarse. It sounded like the beginning of a nasty cold. "Something bad happened."

"What?" Something bad?

"He's been accused of killing your dad."

Claire drew in a sharp breath. "My dad?"

Micah's eyes shot wide open as he realized what he had said. "No, no, no. Sorry, I meant your biological dad."

"Oh." Thank God, Claire thought as she breathed out. For one moment there she actually thought her dad had died. "Peter's been accused of killing Nathan? Who would do something that?"

"He did, apparently."

"Sorry, I'm confused…"

"He claims to be the one who did it. He actually said it himself according to the news. I don't know him as well as you do, but it doesn't seem very likely. It could be a set up."

"Of course it's a set up." The thought of Peter doing something like that was absolutely ridiculous. But thankfully, Micah was smart enough to recognize the fraud, even though he couldn't possibly know the truth about Nathan's death. Or maybe he does... Claire wasn't entirely sure. Time to find out. "Do you know what really happened?"

"Yeah..." Micah narrowed his eyes and looked down. His eyes turned to the door, down at his shoes and then back at the door again, as if he was trying to solve some kind of puzzle. "I thought he had died in a plane crash." And then he looked back at Claire, confusion all over his face. "That didn't happen?"

Claire hesitated, but eventually shook her head. She wasn't going to lie to Micah. She trusted him. A kid his age, already so intelligent and independent knew how to keep a secret. A very important one in this case. But most importantly, Micah knew right from wrong and that's what made her trust him enough to tell him the truth. "Nathan died long before my dad and Peter arranged that crash. He was murdered."

"By Sylar?"

That was quick. Micah obviously knew about the most common cause of death amongst people with abilities. "Who else?" Claire replied grimly. "It doesn't take a genius to figure that one out."

"Well... It explains a lot. You know, where Sylar got his ability to fly from, his behavior towards Peter and Peter's behavior towards him. I just don't get why they had to fake Nathan's death."

"Neither did I, at first, but now I do. You see, everybody thought that Sylar was dead. There was a body, Sylar's body. We wanted to get rid of it, so we burned it. We actually watched it burn."

"But that wasn't him."

Claire shook her head. She wished it was him, that it was him who went up in flames. But, as always, her wish didn't come true. "It was a shape-shifter." And then she told him everything her father had told her about Sylar being Nathan and Nathan being Sylar. She was merely repeating what she had heard and what she had been told, because she hadn't been there when it actually happened. It got quite confusing at some point, but Micah seemed to understand it well enough for her to continue.

"So..." Micah began as he screwed up his face to process everything that Claire told him. "Apart from you and me. Who else knows the truth? Your dad and Peter, obviously."

"Angela and Matt Parkman I think."

"And?"

"That's it. I mean, if they all kept their mouth shut that is. Which I think they did..."

"Only five people? You know what that means. It means that Peter's in a lot of trouble."

"He doesn't have to be. We can find out who's doing this to him and then we can prove that Peter didn't have anything to do with it."

"And then what? He still made it look like Nathan's death was an accident. Even if you can clear his name and prove that it wasn't him who killed Nathan, he can still go to prison. Or wherever they take people like us these days. Same goes for your dad. Everything is out in the open now."

"But this is different!" Claire couldn't help raising her voice. "A lot needs to change before they can go around arresting people with abilities. The law doesn't apply to people like us. They need to change it before they can send anyone of us to jail!" What Peter and her dad had done was the only solution to an impossible problem. It wasn't like they had to fake Nathan's death. They had no other choice. So they had lied. There was no alternative, nothing else they could have done.

"Things will change. Isn't that why we're here. To make a change?"

"I know. But we're also here to help people and I wanna help Peter."

Micah sighed and started rubbing his eyes. "I don't think he wants our help. I've already tried to help him, but he's not interested."

"I don't care. He can't do this on his own. We have to find him. I can talk to him. I can convince him to join us." She really wanted Peter to join their group. He was family. He was someone she could talk to, someone who understood what she had gone through better than anyone else. "He's probably still in New York. I know it's a big city, but there must be a way to find him."

Micah shrugged. "It's worth the try. Maybe you can ask Molly to help you find him."

"How is she going to help me find him?"

"It's her power. She can find people."

"She can find people? Just anyone? In the entire world?"

"Yeah. If she knows what they look like. " Micah took a pack of tissues out of his pocket and used one of them to blow his nose. He really was a bit under the weather. "Hey, maybe she can help you and West find Luke."

Claire closed her eyes. There it was again. The memory of that house, of that smell, stuffed animals everywhere. Weapons, tools, dead eyes, oxygen tanks. A knife, blood, gunfire. "No..." Claire said as she opened her eyes again. "No, forget about Luke. He's not important right now."

"If you say so. You can ask Molly to help you, but I think you should wait until tomorrow. It's late and I still want all of us to sit down and talk, just to see if there's any news and maybe explain a thing or two to Dr. Suresh, y'know? I was just waiting for you and West. Where is he?"

"I..." Claire paused. She couldn't recall seeing West going inside after her. "I don't know. I last saw him outside..." He wasn't with the others just now and Claire didn't see him in the hallway. That was odd and also, a little disturbing. She began to panic a little. West had asked her if she was okay, if she wanted to talk about what had happened, but maybe he was the one who wasn't doing okay. Maybe he needed to talk about what happened. He had shot someone, probably for the first time in his life. "He must be here somewhere."

"Claire, what happened?"

Here we go. "I know you told us not to go to Luke's..." at that moment the door opened and Molly walked out.

Molly tried to apologize with a smile, clearly not wanting to interrupt their conversation. "Where is Mohinder?" she asked Micah.

"End of the hallway, last door on the left," he answered as he pointed his finger in that direction.

"Thanks."

Claire waited until Molly was out of earshot. She was actually quite thankful for the interruption and immediately took her chance to change the subject. "What does she think of all this?"

"Molly? I think she's getting used to it. Her life has been almost just as chaotic as ours. The Company kept her hidden and used her ability to track people down a few years ago. Mohinder and Matt took care of her for a little while after that, and now it's just Mohinder. She doesn't really have anyone else."

"What happened to her parents?"

"The same thing that happened to yours. They were murdered..."

They were murdered. Overcome by a wave of anger, Claire suddenly ran her hand through her hair and gripped it tightly as she stared down the hallway. "By Sylar," she said without a single shred of doubt in her body. It doesn't take a genius to figure that one out. Micah nodded his head, but Claire didn't need him to confirm it.

Next Chapter: An Ounce of Prevention