In one graceful fluid movement she was out of the door and heading towards Noah's room, her maternal instinct kicking in. He chased after her, struggling with his dressing gown on the way.
"Get away from me! I don't know who you are but when my husband is due home any minute and he is going to be PISSED!" She yelled behind her.
Knowing that seeing her so panicked would upset the boy he froze her, stopping her dead in her tracks, using the puppet master power that he stole from Eric Doyle. Her eyes blazed with fury but he clamped her mouth shut, knowing all too well that she would promise to kill him all over again if he allowed her speech. Seizing his opportunity he stood gingerly before her, his brown eyes wide and non-threatening.
"Claire, I'm sorry. I know you hate this power, it freaks you out more than the others. But I just need you to listen to me for one minute" there was a pleading in his voice and her eyes seemed to soften slightly as he reached out his hands to stroke her upper arms.
"It is me, I am Gabriel. Just, not your Gabriel..." her brow furrowed in confusion.
"...I'm from the past, 2011 to be exact. Pete brought me here yesterday. You still hate me back where I'm from, and Pete just wanted me to I dunno...stay on the right track I guess. He wanted me to see the future us" he gave himself a moment, trying to gauge her reaction.
"So no, I'm not your Gabriel, but I AM Gabriel all the same. I'm not here to hurt you or Noah..." he looked down at his feet and concluded in a hushed tone,"...I love you".
There was silence. Claire rolled her eyes as though to remind him to release her.
"Oh sorry!" He released his invisible hold.
**Whack!**without missing a beat she smacked his arm with all the spite she could muster.
"OUCH!" he chided, holding on to his arm. That was not the reaction he was expecting.
"NEVER DO THAT TO ME AGAIN! I HATE IT!" Claire scolded in a hushed voice, suddenly concerned for the sleeping child lying beyond the door behind her.
"You wouldn't let me speak, you weren't listening...I had to!" he followed her suit and lowered his tone, still massaging the feeling back into his arm.
"I don't care, from now on never use that power on me, otherwise there will be no, "future us" or ,"past us" or any other "us" get it?" she bit out, creasing her brow trying to control her anger.
Taking a moment to compose herself she smoothed her hair and huffed, "So you're from the past?" she considered, speaking more to herself than him.
"Yer, I fell asleep in the apartment and woke up here. You know Pete, loves to meddle" he smirked raising his hand to rub the back of his neck.
Her begrudged smile reassured him, "He will have meant well".
Hmm...so Uncle Peter's still a hero he thought, good to know some things never change.
Twenty minutes later they were sat in the kitchen, both nursing fresh cups of coffee, and feeling strangely comfortable with one another.
"So..." she looked at the clock hanging on the wall, Sylar noted it was making perfect time, not a second too slow or too fast, this was defiantly his home.
"...MYGabriel is due back from Japan today. Can you guys meet? Is that allowed? I mean presumably he will know about you, he'll remember right?" she grinned, like a child pleased with her new fantastic idea.
Sylar shook his head in disagreement, "Pete will be here soon to take me back. I'm sure it's not a good idea for me to meet my future self"
"Why?" she shot back, shrugging her shoulders like it was no big deal.
"I dunno, maybe it will change the way things turn out or something?" he realised that explanation was all together flawed as he had already changed the course of their lives by being found out, he just hoped Claire wouldn't notice.
"Sounds a bit, "Back to the Future" to me" Claire scoffed at his theory.
"Yeah, Pete's probably waiting for me in the DeLorean outside"
She nearly spat out her coffee at his quip.
"I don't think I wanna see future me right now anyway" his shoulders slumped a little.
"Again...why? You could ask him all sorts of things about your future. You clearly have a penchant for spoilers Mr,"When did you start loving me"Claire reminded him of the previous evenings conversation.
"I'll figure it out myself thanks, besides I'm kinda jealous of him right now. He's coming home to my family and I'm going home to be loathed for a few more years" he knew he sounded like a spoilt child but he didn't care, he was beginning to feel rather sorry for himself. He knew Peter meant well bringing him here, and he was right he probably DID need to see it, but at this moment in time it felt cruel.
Claire raised a well plucked eyebrow and drew a deep breath, "Honey, you do know that makes no sense don't you...on that logic, I just cheated on my husband last night...with YOU?"
This earned a grin from him that could only be described as feral, "but it was worth it hu, Babydoll?" his tone making Claire flushed at the memory of the night before.
Fanning herself casually she shrugged, "and I didn't loathe you either...not in 2011 anyway" she pursed her lips and inspected her now empty coffee cup, unwilling to meet his gaze.
To his amazement his lie detector once again remained dormant, and if he wasn't mistaken her heart rate had risen and she was blushing.
"Oh really...go on?" his eyebrows shot up into his forehead at the realisation, and she laughed nervously knowing that she had given away more than she had meant to.
"When you and Pete became roommates, you were always around...usually with your shirt off I might add, either just out of the shower or about to get in it...it became pretty hard to carry on hating you!" She bit her bottom lip trying to stifle a grin,"...I was still a teenager remember, hormones racing through me and suddenly there's this incredibly hot guy around...all the time! Jeez you were annoying!" Claire clamped her hand over her eyes feeling like a silly school girl." Why did I just tell you that, you're going back there to torment me aren't you?"
"Oh Claire it's ok, you're only human" he couldn't resist teasing her,"...and I'll make sure that my showering schedule coincides perfectly with your visits from now on!"
Before Claire could think of a witty retort a little voice called from the doorway, "Is it my birthday yet?" Noah enquired rubbing his eyes, still clad in his spiderman pj's. Without hesitation he wandered straight up to his father who instinctively pulled him up on to his lap.
"No honey not quite yet two more sleeps!" Claire chirped leaning over to kiss the boy on the head before moving to place her cup on the counter.
"Oh!" the boy let out a frustrated sigh, but was quickly distracted by a clattering noise coming from the cupboard under the stairs. He expertly maneuvered himself off of Sylars knee and scampered towards the cupboard door.
"Wait a minute Noah, we don't want anything falling out on you do we?" Sylars tone was light but Claire knew that years of being hunted and lead him to be cautious of every disturbance no matter how trivial it seemed. Moving in front of Noah he opened the door to be faced with a very disgruntled looking Peter, hunched over because the cupboard would not accommodated his height and currently trying to untangle himself from the vacuum cleaner cable. Using the door to hide behind, Sylar struggled to suppress the laughter that he felt rising within his chest. His face creased when Peter raised an accusing digit in his direction.
"Don't even..." Peter warned his fringe falling over his eyes, "I cannot get a handle on this teleporting thing! I'm only here looking after your sorry ass!" his voice was hushed so not to alert Claire. However, his nephew was all to quick for him.
"Uncle Peter why are you in the broom cupboard?" The boy announced loudly, bringing Claire in from the kitchen. Peter looked on exasperated, things clearly not going as he had planned.
"Heeeey Noah! Erm...I'm hiding!" Peter reasoned, carefully stepping out of the cupboard and stretching out his limbs.
Noah looked up at him dumb founded, he was a bright kid, he probably didn't buy the explanation but was none the less excited to see his favorite Uncle. Taking him by the hand in order to lead him to the kitchen, "Come on, we're having breakfast" he ordered.
"I think Uncle Peter needs to talk to your Dad a second baby, let's go and fix your pancakes hu?" Claire ushered Noah out. Shooting Sylar and Peter a knowing look in the process. The laughter quickly drained from Sylars features; he knew why Peter was here.