NIKI & MICAH SANDERS
NEW YORK
"Mom…" Micah sat up in bed, yawning and stretching a kink in his neck.
Niki lifted her head and forced a relaxed smile on her face. "Hey baby, did you sleep well?"
Micah nodded, but frowned when he realized that she was still sitting in the chair that she was in when he had fallen asleep. "Did you sleep at all?"
"Not really." She shrugged. "I'm not really that tired."
"Right." He rolled his eyes. "You probably haven't slept in a few days now! Not since I was taken away…you have to be tired." Micah sat up taller and crossed his arms. "You need sleep."
"Thanks for worry." Niki smiled and crossed the room to sit beside her son on the king size bed. "But why not let me take care of the mothering from now on?"
"I promised dad I would look after you." Micah reminded her.
"Yes, I know." Niki felt an overwhelming urge to hug her son, adoring his precious concern for her. "And you are taking care of me, but I am also taking care of you, okay? When I'm tired I'll sleep."
He nodded. "Fine, but will you at least lay down and pretend to sleep."
Niki grinned and pulled him into her arms, squeezing him tightly. "Have I ever told you that you're the best kid in the world?"
"Once or twice." Micah pecked a kiss on her cheek and returned the hug.
"Are you hungry? We could order some room service before heading back over to the hospital?" Niki reached for the menu on the bedside table and started flipping through it. "You like eggs right?"
"Sure mom, anything's fine."
Niki sighed. "You are the most impossibly pleasing child…" She laughed at her son's innocent smile. "You know what, I'm going to go take a shower and let you order us some breakfast, okay?"
"Okay." Micah nodded, taking the menu from his mom and starting to pick out his favorites. "Can I get ice cream too?"
Niki glanced back as she stepped into the adjoining bathroom and smiled. "Sure baby, whatever you want."
Micah grinned and continued perusing the menu. He had just finished making his selection when he heard a quick knock on the door. He paused. His mother had told him enough to know that they were staying at the hotel for safety as well as for rest. He automatically assumed that whomever they were hiding from had tracked them down at the hotel. Feeling instantly afraid, Micah slid off the bed and hurried across the room to the closed bathroom door.
He knocked briefly, but she had already started her shower, so he pushed the door open a crack and called out to her. "Mom…there's somebody knocking on the door."
"What?" Niki peeked her head out from around the shower curtain, looking instantly panicked. "Okay…don't answer it. Umm…just give me a second and I'll be right out."
Micah shut the bathroom door and obediently waited for his mom to exit the shower. Meanwhile, the knocking had persisted. He shifted back and forth on the balls of his feet, staring anxiously at the closed door. Hurry mom…
Suddenly voices joined the knocking and Micah's eyes widened. "Niki? Micah?"
They know us…
"Are you in there? It's us from the hospital…Dr. Suresh and Claire and Molly…" It was a man's voice with an accent, and Micah recognized the voice from the hospital as the Indian man.
"Mom, it's Dr. Suresh!" Micah called through the bathroom door and then without any hesitation, he hurried to open the main door. "Hi…"
Mohinder smiled down at the boy. "Hi, sorry to bother you…but umm…is your mother here?"
At that moment Niki stepped out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel, with traces of shampoo still evident in her wet hair. "Micah, I thought I told you not to open the door!"
"But I realized who it was…we know them…" He defended his choice. "I didn't think you'd care if you knew who it was."
"That's not the point." Niki didn't like being upset with her son, but she needed him to understand how hard she was trying to take care of him and how much she needed him to obey her completely.
"I'm sorry." Micah's apology was sincere, seeming to realize a little of how his mom was feeling.
"I'm sorry if we came at a bad time…" Dr. Suresh and the girls were still out in the hall, all three of them feeling a little hesitant about intruding into the hotel room.
"No, it's fine…I just didn't know…we weren't expecting you and I was afraid that it might be someone else…" Niki gripped her towel more tightly and motioned for the three of them to enter. "Please, come in. I, umm, I should probably put something else on…"
Mohinder blushed slightly, and tried to avert his eyes from the nearly naked woman in front of him as he ushered the two girls into the hotel room and then shut the door, fastening it securely with the chain latch.
"Actually, I'm just going to finish my shower really quick. Are you hungry? Micah was just about to order us some breakfast." Niki smiled at them as she backed into the bathroom to resume her shower. "Make yourselves comfortable. I'll only be a minute."
As she shut the door and the shower water resumed, Micah led the group over to the bed where he'd been reading through the room-service menu. "I was going to get some ice cream…"
"I like ice cream." Molly smiled and glanced up at Mohinder hopefully.
Mohinder was already making himself situated at the desk, pulling books and written notes out of his briefcase, clearly oblivious to the girl's plea. She realized he was ignoring her and she seemed suddenly unsure of herself. Claire stepped forward quickly.
"Molly, I think you can order whatever you like." Claire told her, taking the menu from Micah and beginning to pick something out for herself. She glanced at Mohinder. "Do you want anything Dr. Suresh?"
He nodded absentmindedly. "Sure, anything's fine."
Claire rolled her eyes. She hated it when people didn't give her definite answers. It meant that she had to make a choice for them, and she had a hard enough time making her own decisions half the time. "Umm, right, do you like omelets?"
"That's fine." He muttered, shuffling through more papers.
"Okay…" Claire settled that decision and turned back to the children. "I'll make the call, what do you two want?"
Micah and Molly both requested eggs with toast and bacon, as well as ice cream sundaes with extra fudge. On Micah's orders, Claire ordered an omelet for Niki as well as Mohinder and then ordered herself eggs benedict.
By time the order was complete, Niki had finished her shower and had rejoined the group in the room, now dressed in jeans and a casual sweater. She waited for Mohinder to acknowledge her, but he was so consumed in his research that he ignored her completely. She glared at the back of his head for a minute before moving around to the other side of the desk and placing her hands down on his books, forcing him to look up at her.
"I'm sorry…I didn't hear you. Were you speaking to me?"
"Yea, I was asking you why you're here?" Niki repeated herself.
"Oh, right, good question, yes…" Mohinder stood and faced her, glancing at Claire briefly.
Claire looked at the children, wondering how to make them go away so they wouldn't have to hear the conversation that Niki was demanding, but she knew it wasn't safe for them to be anywhere else at the moment. "They're going to have to know eventually." She decided finally, giving Mohinder a shrug.
Niki frowned. "Know what? What's going on?"
"I don't know how much you know about what happened last night, but there is a man named Sylar…he's a very bad man, who has been killing people with powers…" Mohinder wasn't sure how much to say or how to say it, but he knew that Niki wanted to hear everything. "He's very dangerous. He has killed many times. He was at Kirby Plaza and a man named Hiro stabbed a sword through his chest, which we thought had successfully ended him, but I have now learned that he is in fact still alive, and undoubtedly as dangerous as ever."
"Great." Niki mumbled. "I don't understand what this has to do with me and my son though…"
"At the moment, maybe nothing, but the chance are he saw you at Kirby Plaza and he has realized by now that you have powers as well. It'll only be a matter of time before he begins to search for you and Micah."
"So you're saying he would want to find us so that…" She dropped off, unable to finish the sentence.
"So he can kill you and take your powers." Mohinder finished bluntly.
"Way to break it gently." Claire scoffed, noticing the shocked expression on Niki's face.
"I thought you said the boogeyman was gone." Molly spoke up quietly.
"I know I did Molly, but I was wrong…" Mohinder glanced at her, but her terrified expression made him turn away. "But I'm going to take care of you, I promise. The boogeyman won't get you."
Claire sat on the bed beside Molly and circled her arms around the small girl. "We're all looking after you sweetie, nothing's going to happen."
Molly nodded, but a tear slipped from her eye, betraying her fear.
Niki was watching the girl curiously. "Has this man tried to hurt her?"
Mohinder hesitated, glancing again at the girl, but finally nodded. "Sylar murdered her parents and tried to come after her, but she was saved in time."
"Oh my god…" Niki covered her mouth with a hand, suddenly gaining a better understanding and appreciation of what Mohinder was tying to explain to her about the potential danger of the man named Sylar. "Well, I appreciate you coming here to warn us…"
"Of course." Mohinder nodded. "But I also came here with the girls because I didn't know where else to go. My apartment isn't safe. Sylar knows where I live. He'll be looking for Claire, perhaps more than anyone else. He's been after her for weeks."
Niki glanced at the blonde who was staring firmly at the top of Molly's head. "I don't know what I can do to help you. We were about to go to the hospital to visit my husband…"
"He needs to be warned also." Mohinder decided. "Why don't we all head over to the hospital together and on the way I'll try and give you some more information. I'm sure you still have plenty of questions."
"I do."
"And I'll do my best to answer all of them."
"Thank you."
Claire's phone chirped again and she pulled it from her pocket quickly. With one glance at the ID, she removed her arms from around Molly and stood from the bed, moving to the other side of the room before answering the call.
"Hello…"
"Claire? Umm…hi…"
Claire's eyes slipped shut and she let out a deep breath that she didn't know she had been holding in. "Hi." She smiled and leaned her back against the wall. "I wanted to call you, but I…I couldn't. I just didn't know what to expect. I didn't know where you would be or if…"
"If I was even alive?"
"Yea." Claire felt tears welling up in her eyes. She hadn't realized how much she had cared about him. "I'm really glad you're okay, Nathan."
"You too sweetheart."
"How did you survive?" Claire asked.
"I flew away before Peter exploded." He explained quickly. "I didn't wait to see what happened. I just flew. I don't know if he…" He stopped himself, not ready to admit his fears to her.
Claire smiled a little, realizing that Nathan didn't know about Peter. "He's alive."
"What?"
"Peter's alive. I just talked to him. He's in Canada, but he's on his way back here." She told him. "He's fine."
"Thank God."
"Nathan…" She hesitated. "Why did you change your mind? Why did you stop the explosion?
"Because you were right." He answered simply. "What I was considering, or rather what my mother was suggesting…it was insane. If I had gone through with that…it wasn't a choice I could make. I'm so sorry that I ever made you doubt me." Claire thought that Nathan's voice sounded emotional. She realized how much he truly did care about her, and about Peter, and that made her feel more relieved than she could have expected it to.
"It's okay. You did the right thing in the end and that's all that matters."
"I guess so."
"Thank you."
"No, thank you Claire." He was quiet for a moment and then sighed. "I should go. Heidi…my wife…she…well, I should go."
Claire shut her eyes again and nodded to herself. "Okay, yea. I'm guessing now wouldn't be a good time for her to find out about everything."
"Actually I told her."
"You did?" Claire's heart leapt in excitement. "You told her everything?"
"Oh…well…no not everything…I mean…" He didn't know how to explain it to her. "I told her about me and Peter, about our powers."
"I see." Claire's excitement dropped instantly. "So, I'm guessing she still doesn't know about me then."
"No, not yet." He paused. "I want to tell her Claire, I do, but she's going to have a difficult time adjusting to everything else right now…I don't want to spring too much on her at once."
"Of course, I understand, really." Claire felt an urge to cry, but was very aware of everyone in the room staring at her and so she resisted.
"Claire…"
"No, you don't have to explain. It's fine Nathan." She cleared her throat, still trying to fight back the tears. "Umm, I should go. I'm sort of in the middle of something…"
"Claire, wait. Are you with your dad? Are you safe?"
"My dad went back to Texas. I asked him to. I'm not quite ready to leave yet. There are some things I need to figure out first…"
"Like where I fit in?"
"Yea, among other things."
"Can I call you later today?"
"Sure." Claire agreed. "Whatever you want, but I really do have to go now."
"Okay." He paused again. "Claire…"
"Look Nathan, I'm glad you called. I'm very relieved to hear that you're okay, but there's nothing else to say right now. You've got your wife and your sons to worry about. I'm fine. You don't have to waste time worrying about me. I can take care of myself. Goodbye now."
"Right…but Claire…" He cleared his throat and when he spoke again his voice was very quiet. "I love you."
Claire hung up the phone quickly, pretending she hadn't heard him. She couldn't handle his emotional confusion at the moment; her life was confusing enough as it was.
"So, what's the verdict?" Claire turned back to the others, forcing a confident smile onto her face.
"Is everything okay?" Niki asked with automatic motherly concern.
"Yea, excellent. I just need something else to keep my mind on for now." Claire sighed, but kept her fake smile firmly plastered on her face. "So, who's going to give me something else to think about?"
"After we eat, we will be going to the hospital, all of us together. Niki would like for me to talk to her husband." Mohinder explained. "And then after the hospital, I will try and figure out where we will be staying. Somewhere safe, though still only temporary until I hear something about Molly." He glanced at the girl and then back to Claire who was frowning now. "Is something wrong?"
"No, I just…" She glanced at Molly, whose brown eyes expressed her sadness. "It's nothing."
"All right." Mohinder turned back to his books.
"Umm, Dr. Suresh…" Claire crossed the room and stood beside his chair until he looked up at her.
"Yes?"
"What about me?"
"What about you?"
"What am I going to do? I appreciate you letting me stay with you last night, but I don't expect for you to let me intrude on your life forever…"
"Claire, you sent your dad home so that you could stay here and have your questions answered. You are welcome to stay with me as long as you need to until you're satisfied. Or if you'd rather, I suppose you could stay with Nathan Petrelli…I couldn't help overhearing your phone call…" He smiled slightly. "I am glad that he survived."
"Yea me too, but if you were listening in on the phone call you also heard that he isn't ready for me to come around his family." She didn't want to talk about it, but they weren't really giving her a choice. "He hasn't told his family about me yet."
"Well, you can stay with me as long as you need to, if you are comfortable with that arrangement." Mohinder offered.
"Thank you. I really appreciate it."
"Not at all." Mohinder turned back to his books. "Right now I must focus though, I am trying to decipher some of Molly's past medical exams. I want to make sure that I haven't neglected anything."
"Right, we'll let you focus then." Claire smiled at Niki and the two girls moved away from Mohinder, joining the kids on the bed who were discussing their powers in more detail.