Claire clung tightly to West as he flew them towards Peter and Elle's second stop for the evening. They had been flying almost ten minutes before Claire noticed that she had dropped her cell-phone. All she had wanted to do was turn around and grab it. West had eventually dissuaded her by saying that Sylar was probably searching that rooftop right now.
She was worried about what Sylar could do when he found her cell-phone. It wasn't an 'if' question with Sylar, it was always a 'when'. He could have access to everyone; all it would take was a simple text message to an unsuspecting person and all he'd only have to wait for said person to arrive.
Claire sighed; she'd never thought she'd regret the day cell-phones were invented.
"Don't worry, Claire." West said comfortingly as he flew. "When we land, we'll send texts out to everyone saying that Sylar's got your phone. Or we could call Dr. Suresh and get him to do it. Who knows, he might even come up with an awesome plan for us to catch Sylar."
Claire wasn't convinced at West's optimism. "Maybe—" she paused at West's self-assured smile. "Probably, but I'm more worried about Hiro. If Mohinder replied back and said that Hiro was waiting, Sylar could trap Hiro get his power and then we'll all be totally screwed."
"Okay," said West as he dropped lightly onto a random rooftop. "We'll call them now. It'll probably take a while for Peter and Elle to get to the carnival anyway."
Claire nodded and held out a hand for West's phone.
"Hey, it's my phone, Claire." West said as he pulled his hone out from his jacket pocket. "I'll call them."
Claire shrugged and sat down on the edge of the building. She knew she had no chance of protesting that; West would just look at her with his newfound pair of puppy-dog eyes that Claire swore Peter had taught him how to do and she'd be screwed. And it didn't help that they had just had an argument about West using her phone when he had his own either.
West grinned and set the phone on speaker, placing it on the building's ledge in between him and Claire. It rang for a moment before Molly's voice appeared on the other line.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Molly," West grinned, "Whatcha up to?"
"Oh, hi West," Molly said enthusiastically. "No one noticed that it's eight-thirty now. They're letting me stay up late. Mohinder's still on his computer though, but Matt, Hiro and Maya are playing cards with me."
"Sounds fun," replied West, "Anyway, we kinda need to speak with Dr. Suresh again."
"Sure, I'll just get him."
Claire grinned up at West, she knew that he wanted to fly to Mohinder's new apartment and join in on that card game. Claire normally would have suggested it straight away; she loved to demonstrate her talents at poker and other card games. But she didn't want anything to interrupt Elle's date. Matt always cheated when they were playing cards too.
"Hello, West," said Mohinder after a moment of silence. "I take it Claire's with you too?"
"Yup," answered Claire, "Thanks to the science of speaker phone." She grinned at Mohinder's chuckle and continued. "Sylar spotted us and when we got away, I dropped my cell-phone. So we were hoping you could send out a mass text message or something to the others saying to ignore any messages they get from my phone?"
Claire could picture Mohinder frowning as he tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Yes, I can do that. It won't take too long. But it'll be more than enough time for Sylar to create some chaos with your phone. I'm assuming he'll try to go after the doting couple?"
Claire nodded as she spoke. "I don't know about doting yet. But that's what I'd do if I were him. Sylar's been wanting Elle's power ever since she zapped him out a window."
Mohinder chuckled, "Okay, I'll get to work contacting everyone. We won't have to worry about Sylar going after Elle or Peter, I think. Peter's got it bad for her; he won't let anything happen to Elle. And he can read minds, I'm sure he'll find out of Sylar comes close."
"Thanks, Mohinder, we'll see you soon."
"It's no problem. I'm putting Molly back on; she wants to talk to both of you."
"Okay."
There was silence for a moment as Mohinder passed the phone back to Molly. "Hi, guys." Molly's cheerful voice appeared again. "Do you know what a pool is?"
"A pool?" West asked. "You mean a swimming pool?"
"No, that other kind—not the table either—I mean like, uh, well, Matt's been collecting money and making people guess about when Peter and Elle—"
"Oh, you mean a betting pool?" Claire asked, smiling down at the phone in amusement.
"Yes, that's it," Molly exclaimed excitedly. "Matt's been collecting bets about how many dates Peter and Elle will go on before they have a sleepover."
"A sleepover?!" West laughed.
"Yeah, that's what Matt said, but I think he means before they…" Molly's voice lowered to a whisper, "Before they have sex."
Claire and West both started laughing at Molly's whispered words.
Molly continued speaking, oblivious to the fact that she had caused Claire and West's laughter. "Matt said that twenty was the lowest amount; he thinks that after this date Peter and Elle will…'sleepover'. But Maya thinks they'll wait till their married. But then she changed to after the sixth date when Matt said she was 'innocent'."
"And what do you think, Molly?" Claire asked.
"Oh, I think after their third date. I hope I win cause I don't have twenty dollars. But Mohinder said he'd pay for me if I lost. Mohinder thinks the fifth date. But then Matt said he was as naive as Maya."
"Put me down for the second date." West said; ignoring Claire's disapproving glance.
"Okay, that should be fine. Matt said that different people could bet on the same slot. Hiro's on after the second date too and he bet twenty dollars and he wouldn't have to buy us a new toaster. Cause he broke ours trying to make waffles. Anyway, does Claire wanna bet?"
Claire ignored West's triumphant look and muttered into the phone, "Put me down on four."
"Alrighty; this is a fun night. I hope Peter and Elle go on more dates. It's been like staying up on Christmas or New Years. It's been so cool."
West laughed, "Well, okay then Moll. Just make sure Dr. Suresh has enough cash for when I win the pool."
"Kay, I'll check that he's got the money; but I'm gonna win so don't get your hopes up…" Molly paused for a moment. "Matt wants to know if Peter and Elle had oysters or are going to have oysters on their date."
Claire giggled, watching as West ran a hand through his hair, suddenly uncomfortable. "Um, ah, tell him they didn't and I don't think their going to."
"Okay then. I've gotta go now. Good luck stalking Elle and Peter."
"Yup, bye Molly—and it's not stalking it's called Pelle watch!"
Molly giggled, "Okay then, bye."
West grinned and picked up his cell-phone, flipping it shut and replacing it back in his pocket. "What?" He asked when he noticed Claire's expression.
"Pelle watch?" Claire asked.
West shrugged. "Well we can't keep calling what we're doing Stalking-Peter-And-Elle-So-Nothing-Interrupts-Their-Date can we? This is simpler and easier to say. It's clever too, don't you think?"
Claire smiled. "Let's go, Flying Boy. We've still gotta catch up to them."
"Can't you give me a clue?" Elle asked, staring up at Peter as they walked out of the restaurant. She was lucky Peter was actually paying attention to where they were going or Elle might have bumped into something by now.
Peter grinned and looked at her with those pair of brown eyes that always made her insides gush. "That would ruin the surprise. If you think hard enough it might come to you."
Elle pouted for a moment as she furrowed her brow in thought. Alright then, Petey; you've gotta thing for surprises, eh? That's pretty cool. You're pretty cool. Elle leaned back slightly and looked down. You've gotta nice butt too. If you're reading my mind right now, you better have heard that. I hate losing—but you already know that, don't you Petey?
She looked up at Peter's face and was pleased to see a small, revealing smile on Peter's face. You heard that, didn't you? I'd better try and keep my mind out of the gutter then. I don't want you turning beet-red so soon. She smiled as a faint blush emerged on Peter's cheeks. God he's hot, I just wanna—wait, mind out of the gutter, Elle. Save it for later when he's not around to listen in; unless you wanna listen in, Petey.
She grinned wider as the blush grew in Peter's cheeks. Why didn't I think about this earlier? My score would be way higher than it is now. But he probably wasn't listening in then, were you Petey? No, you're too much of a gentleman to do it at dinner. She broke off from her thoughts as Peter suddenly stopped and faced her with a wide grin on his face.
"You wanna go the fast way or the faster way?"
Elle frowned. "I thought we were taking your car?"
"Nope, this is our first date, Elle. I don't want it being too ordinary, you know. The car'll be fine there. So again, do you want the fast way or the faster way?"
"Is there really a difference?" she asked curiously.
"Oh yeah, there's a huge difference." Peter grinned knowingly. "I personally prefer just fast. It's a whole lot more fun then faster. But, if I read your mind right a week ago, you won't agree."
"You read my mind a week ago?" Elle said accusingly. "That's pretty naughty, Petey. I might have been thinking some personal thoughts."
"You were; they made me blush."
Elle bit her lip, slightly embarrassed. If Peter meant what she thought he meant… God, I'm guarding my thoughts whenever he's around now!
"You don't have to; I didn't dip into your mind again after that."
"So what do you call what your doing now?"
Peter grinned and shrugged, "Getting to know you better." At Elle's glare he chuckled. "What? Isn't that the purpose of a date?"
"I wouldn't know." Elle said, smiling up at him. "Okay, since you seem to like just fast so much; we might as well do that so I know what the fuss is about."
"You sure?"
"Of course I'm sure, it's not like fast means we're jumping off a freaking building to get to our next spot." She shuddered briefly. "I hate heights. Anyway, I'm sure that'll be faster, right?"
Peter only grinned as he swept Elle's legs out from under her, holding her body tightly in her hands. Elle squealed and clung to Peter as he pushed off from the ground, rising almost lazily into the dark, New York sky.
Elle kept her eyes tightly shut as soon as she realised what was happening. She clung onto Peter, half strangling him as he flew lightly through the air.
"God, Elle!" Peter gasped as she tightened her grip. "I knew heights scared you, but I thought it was only nerves or something."
"Not much of mind-reader then, are you?" Elle croaked. "Take us down so I can zap your ass. I know you have a thing for heights—the entire Petrelli Clan does. You and Claire both throw yourselves off of buildings. We're not all heights people, Pete."
She clung tighter as Peter suddenly dipped in the air. "Don't worry, Elle." Peter murmured comfortingly. "I'm not gonna let anything happen to you. I won't let you fall."
"You sure?"
"Of course I'm sure." Peter said. "Besides, I thought everyone wanted to fly around like Superman and Lois Lane?"
"Seriously Petey," Elle said as she forced herself to open her eyes up a crack. "Leave the mind-reading to Parkman."
"You're not afraid anymore though, are you?" Peter asked.
Elle frowned and opened her eyes fully, focusing on Peter's smiling face so she wouldn't notice how high up they were. "I guess I'm not. It's because you won't let anything happen to me, right?"
Peter nodded. "That's right. We can fly around longer if you want. We're almost there."
Elle shook her head quickly and reached up to play with Peter's hair. "No, height's still make me nervous." She grinned as her index finger crept around the back of Peter's ear. Blue light flickered for a moment and Peter gasped as Elle shocked his tender skin. "I didn't want to wait until we landed." Elle explained with a giggle.
"At least you didn't set me on fire that time." Peter winked.
"You ran away from me, Petey. I gotta little emotional, you know." Elle sighed as she recalled that night.
Peter only smiled at her and began to drop slowly through the air. Elle was continually amazed at Peter's bag of tricks; she loved it when he displayed a power that wasn't her own. She didn't really know why though. It was all feelings and emotions for her, no thoughts; no scientific reasons to explain it. It was the same rush of excitement when she had shocked him back at the hospital. Peter, I think…
She snapped from her thoughts as Peter's feet softly hit the ground. He slowly lowered her to the ground. Elle noticed that he kept her hand clutched in his.
"Don't let go," Peter warned with a giant, anticipating smile on his face. We're kinda invisible. Don't want people seeing us now, do we?"
Elle looked at him in surprise. "Where are we?"
"Well, first off, I didn't read your mind about this. I kinda overheard you telling Claire that you'd never been to a carnival before. So I thought we'd stick around for a little while and cheat at a couple of sideshows."
Elle grinned and looked around in wonderment. She'd wanted to come to a place like this for as long as she could remember. Bob had always told her that she couldn't because she couldn't be trusted alone and he couldn't spare anyone to go with her. He would say that if she was good, he's consider it one day. No matter how much she behaved herself, no matter how much she tried during lessons; her father never considered it and she had never gone.
She looked at Peter and smiled happily, he was making her happier then she had been in a long time. It wasn't the sadistic happiness at causing someone pain. It was pure and different, something else that she hadn't felt in a long time. I know you're probably reading my mind right now, Petey. Elle thought as she peered into Peter's eyes. But I don't really care. Peter, I think… I think I love you, Peter.