Claire was trying to get a driver out of a car that had a fire going under its hood. Being pinned against the guardrail and flanked by two other cars, the driver was trapped. Gabriel saw she had a crowbar in her hand, and was now crawling over the front of the car to get to the driver, heedless of the fire that was burning her.
"Get down to the floor!" he heard her tell the driver, a frightened woman only made more frightened by the fact that her rescuer was getting burned and didn't seem to mind. However, the woman did as she was told and Claire broke the glass on the windshield, enough so that a person could crawl out.
He got close enough, and stretched out his hand, allowing bursts of ice to put out the fire going in the front of the car. Claire turned back and looked at him, a mix of surprise, joy, and perhaps a little hurt on her face.
She turned back to the woman and pulled her through the opening in the windshield, pushing her towards Gabriel. He got her off of the car and she began running.
Claire turned to him now, the burns on her body fading. "Fancy meeting you here, Sylar," she told him stiffly.
He put his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes. "It's Gabriel," he corrected.
She looked at him in surprise, but shook it off and looked around. "It's a big mess," she told him. "I don't think they've even been able to get to the driver of the truck."
Sylar looked in the direction of the truck, and with his vision was able to see through the piles of cars. "He's in there," he said. "But there's a flood of waste in the way. Not to mention these cars."
"I can't get there on foot, and you can't walk through that stuff," Claire said. They were quiet for a while, then Claire said, "Throw me."
"What?"
"Throw me!" she told him. "Use your telekinesis, and throw me to the truck!"
Gabriel agreed. He backed away from her slightly, then using a hand, he elevated her. Claire felt herself going higher and higher, then, with a finger, Gabriel pointed her in the direction of the truck, and off she flew.
She landed on her feet in a puddle of the waste. She felt it burning through her shoes, and her socks, but she couldn't pay attention to that. She stalked through the puddle, to the front of the truck, where the driver lay injured.
Luckily, she had brought her crowbar, so she climbed to the top of the cabin, where the door was now on the top, and used it to break the latch off of the passenger side door. Using all of her strength to pull off the door, she threw it to the side and looked into the cabin, where the driver was hurt, but alive, coughing raggedly.
She looked in at him. "Give me your hand!" she cried.
He looked stricken, but he yelled out, "My leg… and I think my ribs! They're broken!"
"You've got to crawl out! Come on, I'll help you!"
Using his arms for leverage, John painfully pulled himself out of the seat and climbed up to the now broken passenger side door, throwing his hand to Claire. She began to pull with all of her might, and he used what little strength he had left to help her. When his upper body was out of the truck, she grabbed hold of his belt and used it to pull him all the way out.
Gently she turned him over so he was now laying on the flat surface of what had been the side of the truck. He clutched his side. Claire winced when she saw his leg, now slightly turned at an unnatural angle.
Trying to keep him calm, she smiled down at him. "You'll be ok. Have you got someone at home?"
He coughed and panted, but smiled back. "Yeah. My wife, Tina."
"You'll see her soon, I promise," she said gently. Just then, she felt a rush of air, and the loud droning of a powerful engine. She looked up to see a helicopter, hovering over the truck.
She looked back at him. "I've got to go now. Don't worry, you'll be fine."
He looked at her wide-eyed. "Where the hell are you gonna go? There's acid on the ground!"
But she was already walking towards the edge of the truck, ready to jump. "Yeah I know. I already burned my shoes off getting here. It was nice meeting you!" And with that, she leapt off.
Tom lay back on the truck. He couldn't believe it. He had to still be asleep.
Gabriel remained where he was, trying to mentally move the cars smashed together as discreetly as he could. He heard Claire running up to him and he turned.
She smiled. "I got the driver. He's going to be fine."
He smiled back. "Good. We need to get out of here."
She cocked a brow. "We?"
"Yeah. We," he answered sheepishly.
They made it back to the mustang, Claire limping slightly from her nearly destroyed shoes. Finally she said "screw it" and removed the tattered scraps of suede and rubber from her feet. Fortunately, traffic hadn't moved at all, so they were able to get back in the car with little ado.
They sat there for nearly an hour, in silence, waiting for the accident to be cleared. Neither one of them knew exactly what to say. Finally Claire, looking soberly out of the passenger window, asked the first question that had come to her mind when she realized he wasn't coming back to meet her after the showdown in Louisiana.
"Why did you leave me?"
Gabriel turned to look at her. "Guilt," he said simply.
Claire could help but scoff. "Since when has guilt been a problem for you?"
He sighed. He couldn't argue with that. "Claire, I haven't cared for someone in a long time. And when…the one I cared for, more than anything else in the world, got hurt because of me, I couldn't help but feel that—that she'd be better off without me."
She felt a blush on her cheek, but she cleared her throat and asked, "So where have you been?"
"Lying in a coma in a hospital in Kentucky," he answered simply.
She gave a light gasp. "What?"
"It's the best thing that could have happened to me," he said with a smile.
Claire rolled her eyes. "It serves you right," she quipped. "And so you woke up with a new outlook on life, and decided to change your name?"
"No," he said. "Gabriel is my real name."
"So Sylar doesn't exist anymore?"
The traffic began to move again and he started driving. "I've done terrible things, Claire," he told her. "That's always going to be with me. But if I help to save the world, I can live with myself."
She felt a smile spreading across her face, but she turned away. After a while she asked, "So where are we going?"
He shook his head. "You tell me. You make the decisions, Chief."
GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
They ended up driving to the closest hotel off of 40. Since Gabriel had nothing on him but the clothes on his back, he could only stand by as Claire asked for a room and paid for it.
She had rented a room with double beds. Wordlessly she walked into the bathroom and shut the door. She jumped into the shower, not having showered since the day before. She looked down at her feet, knowing that they had healed from walking in the hazmats, but she found that she still needed to scrub off the bits of her socks and shoes that had melted to her skin.
"Ugh, gross," she said to herself. It would take her a while to get it off her of skin, but she was grateful for the extra time it took. She wasn't ready to face Sylar—Gabriel. She was still angry at him. She couldn't help it. He'd left her when she was at her most vulnerable. How could she trust him?
When she was done, she changed into a t-shirt and a pair of cotton shorts and left the bathroom. But she didn't see him anywhere in the room. She sighed. He'd left her again. Or maybe she just imagined all of it. She had been rather tired, after all. Maybe her mind had started playing tricks on her.
Claire laughed bitterly to herself. Of course she was alone; what else could she be? Walking to her bag she had thrown on the bed, she began unpacking her things.
But before she could take the first thing out of her bag, she felt two strong arms enfold her from behind, a bearded cheek rub against hers. She felt his warm breath against her ear, and she heard him say softly, "Oh Chief, I'm so sorry."
She couldn't help it; a sob escaped her lips. She felt tears beginning to well in her eyes. Gently he took her face in his hand, and brought her head back so that he could kiss her. She kept her eyes open while they kissed. She wanted to make sure that he really was there, with her.
He turned her around, and pulled her to him, picking her up so her chest lay right against his. She brought her arms up to wrap around his neck and she looked at him, carefully. He had changed; his skin seemed paler, his hair slightly longer. A beard had grown in almost completely. But the greatest change was in the eyes. They were still dark, piercing, and intense. They still made her melt inside, but they were different. Gone was the distance, the haughtiness. There was passion; there was love.
"Oh," she breathed, and she kissed him. He really was here; he really was hers. She felt the hurt and the anger begin to fade away as he held her in his arms. She couldn't even cry; she felt such an abounding joy that she couldn't bring herself to mourn.
He returned her kisses with a fierce ardency. He brought of his hands to her bottom, gently pushing her so that she brought her legs to wrap around his waist. Still kissing, he walked them over to one of the beds and laid her down, her arms and legs still encompassing him in their soft warmth.
Gabriel looked down at Claire, cupping her angelic face in his hands. She was his treasure, his jewel. Before their lovemaking had been mindless; animalistic. But not this time. Now, they were going to go slowly, gently. He was going to savor her.
He moved off of her and removed his shirt, tossing it aside. He came back down to her again, and Claire enjoyed the feel of his bare skin. One hand she ran through the dark thickness of his chest hair, the other she used to caress his back. They kissed each other hungrily, their tongues dueling, then Gabriel broke off the kiss and began to kiss down to her neck, remembering the fragrant softness of it.
Claire was enjoying this, but she couldn't help but want more…intensity. So she moved the hand that had been caressing his chest to the back of his neck, while the other hand she used to massage and knead his back. His soft moans told her he liked it. Then, experimentally, she raked her nails down his back.
Gabriel hissed; that had driven him to a new wildness. And immediately, in reaction, he stopped kissing her neck and actually bit the tender flesh, not breaking the skin but putting enough pressure that it elicited a gasp, then a moan from her. His erection was already straining against the fabric of his pants, aching to find release, but he wouldn't permit any rash actions. He wanted slow, exquisite fulfillment.
He broke away from her neck, and looked at her, then at the next target of his attentions. Carefully he cupped one of her full breasts and squeezed. Claire cried out and arched herself into his hold further, reveling in the feel of his hands. She desperately wanted more attention. She wanted to take off her shirt, but a good amount of his weight was on her, restricting her movements.
But Claire's cries and writhing told Gabriel what she wanted; what he wanted too, actually. So gently he brought her arms above her head, and pulled the lightweight cotton shirt off of her. Once it was off, he didn't want to have to lean over her to get it off the bed, so mentally he made if fly off of the bed and onto the floor. He couldn't help but sigh in awe as he looked at her full globes. He couldn't wait to take their soft fullness into his mouth
Claire giggled, then moaned as she realized that he was sucking on her nipple, licking the tip, then holding it between his lips. He hadn't done this before, and she wasn't prepared for how wonderful it would feel. She shut her eyes and held his head against her breasts, then cried out in surprise and pleasure when he actually brought his arms under and around her, pulling her closer to his needy mouth, almost in greedy possession.
Gabriel couldn't get enough. The smoothness of her skin, the sweet scent of her flesh. To think he almost missed all of this…but this wasn't the time to ponder what could have been. He could hear her rising moans, and he knew that she was aching for more, but he wanted to take his time.
Slowly he kissed his way down from her breasts, across the smooth flat plane of her belly, to the top of her shorts. He pulled these off, little by little, off of her legs. He tried to take her panties as well, but she pulled away from him and curled up at the head of the bed.
"No fair," she said teasingly. "You have more clothing on than me."
He chuckled and complied, unbuttoning his pants and pulling them down. Claire was already calculating in her mind that as soon as they were gone, she'd force him onto his back and take control. But Gabriel had other ideas. He was on top of her again, kissing her. And while he had her distracted, he began to tug on her panties, actually working his hands under the material to make a speedy removal.
He pulled away from her and took them off completely. Claire began to whine in protest, until she realized what he was about to do…
Gabriel pulled her legs apart and buried his face there, finding the sensitive bud of her seat of pleasure and lavishing attention on it with his tongue.
She fell backward and moaned. "Ohhh God. Ohhh, that feels good," she whispered.
She was so wet already, and she tasted like honey to him. He lapped up her juices, not caring that they were spilling out of his mouth. The more he lapped, the more there was. He could hear her crying, shaking. He continued teasing her until he looked at her, with tears in her eyes, and she said breathlessly, "Oh God, Gabriel, please. I want you, all of you."
That did it. He stood up and removed his last article of clothing, and he was upon her again. He kissed her gently, and Claire could taste herself on his lips. But, much to her surprise, she didn't mind. In fact, it was rather arousing.
He positioned herself between her thighs, and she took a deep breath. She—both of them—had waited for this moment for a long time.
Finding her soft pink opening, Gabriel placed his shaft there and allowed himself to fill her, gasping at the entry. Oh, she was wonderful. Hot and wet and tight. She shuddered as he had entered her, and he could feel her body as the tremor went through her.
She placed her hands on his shoulders, looking up at him with love and complete trust in her eyes. "Please," she whispered.
He moved slowly at first, finding a rhythm. Claire brought her legs up and around the small of his back, hooking her ankles together. She was glad that he was being gentle, but she wanted more, she needed more. She began to move with him, thrusting her pelvis against his in frantic movements.
"Harder," she said in a soft cry. "Oh God, harder."
With that, any notions of soft, slow, gentle sex left Gabriel's mind. Grasping her buttocks, he actually pulled her off of the bed and rocked backward so that he was sitting up and she was astride his lap. He thrust into her, hard and fast, making his movements deeper. She threw her head back in ecstasy and he bit into her neck again, this time hard enough to break the skin. She moved her hips against his, grinding into him with a roughness that would seem unnatural in her, but that Gabriel was well acquainted with.
He was stroking her back roughly, digging his fingers into her supple flesh and would have left marks if not for her healing factor. He was pounding her, while whispering all manner of filthy things in her ear that couldn't help but giggle at. She had no idea that he could talk so dirty.
With the head of his phallus striking her in just the right spot over and over again, Claire could feel an orgasm building in her. That strange, burning, almost itchy feeling she'd felt only twice before was upon her, and she wanted the culmination to last as long as it could. Grabbing his hair, she looked into his eyes. "You're making me…oh God…." she moaned, as she rode out the climax.
He wasn't going to be too far behind her. He laid his head in her neck, and whispered into her ear, "Oh Claire, oh honey, ohhhh…." and he pressed himself a little deeper into her as he came.
They were sweaty, spent, and utterly satisfied in a way they didn't think possible. Gently Gabriel moved Claire off of his shaft and lay down, pulling her against him. They lay on their sides, kissing. Claire brought her thigh to rest against his, in warm invitation, and was pleased when he got the hint and moved his leg to rest between hers.
Gabriel waited until he completely caught his breath, then kissed her again. "I love you," he told her.
She smiled that sweet smile of hers, but this time, there was no sadness in it. "I love you too," she replied.
It was then that she realized that this was the right time for them to tell each other; all of the things that happened to them, good and bad, had to happen in order for them to have this moment together.
They lay quietly for a long time. Gabriel was awake, but he wondered if Claire had fallen asleep.
But then he heard her say, "So…when you were that coma, did you…dream?"
He sighed and kissed her head. "Not exactly. I sort of…found myself. I put all the parts of myself back together."
She looked him, puzzled. "What do you mean?"
So he explained it to her. He told her that he realized that while he wasn't Sylar anymore, Sylar would always be a part of him, as would the people he killed.
"I understand," she told him. "But there's still one thing I'd like to know."
"What's that?"
"What's your last name?"
He chuckled. "Maybe I should tell you about myself."
They spent the rest of the day and most of the night talking, still wrapped in each other's arms. Gabriel told Claire about his father, John. Claire told Gabriel about her two fathers: Noah, the man she'd known all her life, who raised her, and Nathan, the man who'd given her life but that she barely knew. He told her about Ocean City, a vacation spot that his family had gone to every year because his aunt and uncle had a summer home there. She told him about her mother's dog shows and Mr. Muggles.
He told her the darker things: about Chandra and his feeling that he was betrayed, about Brian Davis. About his mother and his own insecurities. He laid himself bare, fearing in the back of his mind that she would fear and revile what he'd done. But she lay there, stroking his face gently, showing her fear but also her strivings to understand. He knew then that he'd underestimated her; that he'd run away thinking that he was protecting her, when in reality he was only denying himself a love that was pure and honest and perfect.
Finally the sun came up, and they realized that they'd been in bed all this time. Gabriel knew Claire was probably hungry, so he suggested they find a diner and get some breakfast.
As they were digging into their food, identical orders of pancakes and sausage, Claire talked about her time in Odessa. "I really was thinking of staying there," she told him. "But it was Zach who convinced me to leave and find you." She added slyly, "Although I'm sure he wanted me to stay," hoping that it would make Gabriel jealous.
She was successful. "Who is this Zach?" he demanded. "An ex-boyfriend or something?"
She shrugged and shook her head. "He's a very good friend, that's all. Maybe one time something could have happened…but not now." She smiled and took his hand. "My heart belongs to someone else."
His wicked smirk returned momentarily. "Good," he said. "I'd hate to have to resort to my old ways because some guy didn't know his place."
"Gabriel!"
He laughed. "Just kidding."
They were going to check out that afternoon, and drive off to their next adventure, wherever that might be. Claire was packing up her things when she looked over at Gabriel, who was folding up clothes he bought while they were out. She wanted him again, but she knew they had work to do.
She looked out the window, and noticed dark clouds were forming. The wind was picking up.
She smiled and pushed back the curtain, then walked over to her lover. "Hey," she asked. "Do you like to travel in bad weather?"
"No," he replied casually. "If I can, I try to avoid it."
Gently she took the clothes he was wearing from his arms and put them down on the bed. "What if a storm was coming? Wouldn't you feel safer if we waited it out?"
"Probably," he said, putting his arms around her.
"And if we did, I'm sure we'd find a way to occupy ourselves."
Just then, the sound of thunder could be heard. Gabriel smirked and looked down at Claire, her eyes filled with hope and lust.
"Good point, Chief. Come here."