Chapter 4: Chuck

Gabriel

"Well?" Sarah asked. Still a blur.

"Nope," Gabriel said, pulling off the fifth pair of glasses. She threw her head back in fake exasperation and Gabriel laughed. He didn't know why, but he had a strong attraction to her, one that was almost familiar. She pulled out another pair.

"Try these," she said, dangling them in front of him. He took them and tried them on.

"Definitely not," he said, quickly pulling them off. Sarah laughed as she plucked the glasses from his hand.

"So, you know my name, what's yours?" Sarah said. Gabriel hesitated. Was it safe to tell her? He could give her a fake identity and no one would know, but for some reason, he trusted her.

"Gabriel," he said

"Gabriel what?" Sarah prodded.

"Hey, you didn't tell me your last name," Gabriel quickly replied. He trusted her, but he wasn't stupid.

"Well, I guess you have a point there," Sarah said. She reached into the box pulled out another pair. "Here, try these."

Gabriel looked at them closely and grimaced. "They look gross,"

Sarah met his eyes. "Don't you trust me?"

He smiled and put on the glasses revealing to himself a beautiful young woman with thick curled hair, and curious blue eyes. She wore an orange tank top and her hair was pulled back with a matching headband.

"Well?" she said. "Can you see?"

"Ya," Gabriel replied "very clearly"

Sarah smiled.

"Good, I have to go to the grocery store, you can handle yourself right?" Gabriel smirked.

"Ya, I think so,"

"Okay good, I left some clothes for you next to the bed, since I figured you'd probably want to change," As she neared the door she turned back and said, "Oh, and if Chuck comes, tell him I'm at the store and I'll be right back,"

To this, Gabriel started to say, "Who's Chuck?" but was cut off by the mere fact that she had already left the room.

Gabriel was glad that Sarah had left. This would give him a chance to test himself. He looked at a cup on the other side of the room. That would do.

He reached out an arm and pushed, with his mind of course, the cup backwards. Nothing. He tried harder, straining his muscles and willing it to move. Again, nothing. Reaching with both hands, he forced the cup back with all his strength. Still, nothing. Panting, he lowered his arms. Had they really managed to take his powers away? Had Mohinder really found a cure? Of course, if he had, he wasn't surprised to be the one that Mohinder tested it on.

Sighing, he rolled his head and his eyes fell on a clock. He stared at it.

"I wonder," Gabriel said, a curious, and familiar look coming across his face. He spun around, pulled his feet out of the bed, and stood up. It hurt- a lot. He winced a bit, but then straitened back up. Luckily, (or unfortunately,) he was used to the pain. Leaning forward, he snatched the clock off the nearby bed post. It wasn't really a bed post in all actuality. It was too far from the bed and, even if it had been closer, it was much too short, especially for Gabriel.

After sitting back down, he fondled the clock in his hands, then looked at his watch. His watch was faster, and you didn't have to be a watchmaker to figure that out. Now that Gabriel didn't have his powers, he began to wonder, did he still have the knowledge to fix a clock? He pulled out his watch's stopper, something he hadn't done for years. Concentrating was important and he really didn't need any distractions.

He held the clock close to his ear. He listened the familiar music of the clock as it quietly ticked on. Something was off, he knew it. He knew how to fix it but he didn't know how to fix it. It was like trying to ride a bike. Blindfolded.

He set the clock back down and sighed as he stared at it.

What is wrong with this picture? he thought, as he absentmindedly scratched his shoulder. When he brought back his hand, he noticed dry blood caked between the nails. He really needed to take a shower.

Chuck

Learning about romance had really done wonders for Chuck. H thought about this as he walked down the hall leading to Sarah's apartment. He held a single rose, just as instructed and an attitude of confidence that he had never really felt before. At the same time, it was something he had never felt before which made him a bit nervous. This contradiction didn't really make sense to Chuck so he decided to try ignoring both feelings and concentrating on Sarah. What would he say when she opened the door? By thinking about this, he realized he was giving into nervous feeling, so he stopped thinking completely.

Chuck rolled his hand into a ball and raised it to meet the door. It made a resounding "knock" sound, often expected from doors. He tapped his foot because he was feeling both nervous and impatient and he was trying not to think, which he soon discovered was actually rather difficult.

Suddenly, the door swung open and Chuck's expression quickly turned from happiness to dismay. Standing in front of him was a tall man (or tall to most people, he was actually short compared to Chuck) with a ripped body, wearing only a towel. He also had long hair and a beard, but Chuck failed to notice this. Mostly, he was still stuck on the fact that there was a man standing in front of him, in the house of the girl he was in love with, wearing only a towel.

Chuck knew there could only be two reasons for this occurence to... occur. #1 Sarah had a new boyfriend. This was the one he was afraid of. He knew there was another option, but right now he couldn't think of it (probably because he was still stuck on the not thinking trick). After a few seconds, Chuck noticed he was staring.

"I, uh, sorry, wrong room," He wished he could believe his own words. He turned uneasily to back the way he came.

"Oh, wait are you um-" he paused, as if trying to remember his name "Uh, Chuck! Are you Chuck?"

Chuck stopped. Shoot. He turned on his heels.

"Yes,"

"Oh, Sarah said to tell you that she was at the grocery store and that she'd- be right back,"

Chuck exhaled with relief.

"Oh! Oh, okay. Okay, good." Chuck said.

"Do you, want to come in? I gotta, you know, change and everything, but-"

"Oh no! That's okay!"

"No seriously, come on." Said the man, motioning for him to come in. He smiled a friendly half smile.

"Um, sure," Chuck said finally, feeling a bit more comfortable now knowing that he wasn't with Sarah. He followed him into the room and sat down as the man left.

"So, um, how do you know Sarah?" Chuck asked.

"Well, I really didn't until today." Was the reply.

"Then why are you here?"

"I really don't know. I just woke up here."

"Um, if you don't mind me asking, who are you?" There was a short pause, and the door opened. The man was now dressed in jeans and a blue tee shirt (both withe tag still attached).

"The name's Gray. Gabriel Gray."

Chuck had just opened his mouth to say something, when his eyes fell on a watch. And he flashed.