SYLAR

LONDON

"Welcome home."

Sylar stopped with the door part open and the key still in the lock. Coming home from Rome he had anticipated an empty apartment. Seeing her sitting at the small table, waiting for him with a wide smile, made his heart leap.

"How did you get in?"

"I flirted with your super. I wanted to surprise you." Emily stood and crossed to him.

"You definitely succeeded." He pulled the key from the lock and stepped all the way in to his one-bedroom apartment.

"You're not upset, are you?" She looked worried. "I just missed you so much and I couldn't wait to see you…"

"Emily, calm down," he knew how anxious she was feeling based on the speed of her heartbeat. "I've never been less upset about anything." He dropped his traveling bag on the floor and pulled her into his arms. "I missed you too."

"Really?" She tipped her head back to look up at him; her green eyes were inquisitive.

"Yes," he confirmed with a kiss.

"Good," she returned the kiss eagerly. "Now that's settled, how about ordering in?"

"Ordering in?"

"For dinner," she explained. "I'm starving, you have nothing in your kitchen, and I don't know about you but I'd rather stay here than go out tonight."

"You would?" He picked up the suggestive tone in her voice. "Are you sure?" Up until now they had both carefully avoided the next step in their relationship. "I mean we don't have to…"

She smiled, nodded, and led him by the hand into the bedroom. "I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to be."

As he followed her into the bedroom and she started to undress, he realized just how much he had come to care for Emily. She was perfect in every way and the way he felt when he was with her was a feeling he'd never known before—it was addicting.

He spoke before he could stop himself: "I love you."

She paused with her skirt halfway unbuttoned. "You what?"

He hesitated, fearing he had spoken to quick or too honestly. His ears turned in, trying to decipher her emotions based on her heartbeat. It was racing, but he couldn't be sure if she was nervous or excited.

"I love you," he knew he couldn't take it back and so he decided to repeat himself and wait to see what happened. "You don't have to respond…I don't expect you to say anything that you're not ready for. I just needed to tell you how I feel."

She was quiet for a moment and then she smiled. "I love you too, Isaac."

Sylar froze. All the bliss he had been experiencing only a minute before vanished in an instant as he realized the truth. What he felt for her could never be reciprocated fully as long as she only knew him as Isaac Mendez. As much as he wanted to believe it wouldn't make a difference, he wondered if she would still be able to love him if she knew who he really was—that he killed Isaac.

ANGELA PETRELLI & MR. OKENBERG

"I think we might have a problem," Angela confronted Mr. Okenberg first thing when her private plane landed.

"Oh? Has Mr. Sylar not been performing well?"

"No, he's fine. His skills are definitely impressive, but it's his attitude I'm not sure of."

"Oh?" Mr. Okenberg looked up from his paperwork, giving her his full attention. "What happened?"

"I can't be certain, but I believe he has formed an attachment to his assignment, Miss Banks." She explained. "I think he might be protecting her."

"So you think she might actually have abilities and he is concealing them from us?"

"I think it's a possibility and something we should test for ourselves."

Mr. Okenberg wasn't as convinced. "Everything that I know about Mr. Sylar wouldn't suggest to me that he is capable of having feelings for anyone…"

"I believed the same for a while, but you didn't speak to him like I did," she explained. "He was questioning our motives for his latest elimination. He wanted to know what the purpose was for killing a man who had no abilities."

"You didn't tell him, did you?"

"Of course not," she snapped. "Do you think I'm an idiot?"

He apologized with a slight nod of his head. "We will send someone out immediately to test Miss Bank's capabilities." He paused. "It might be a good idea to test Mr. Sylar as well."

"How do you propose we do that?"

"I have someone who I'm certain would be eager to help." He dialed a number on his desk phone and waited as it rang, when it was answered he held up a finger to Angela. "Hello! Yes I know it's been a while. I'm sorry to have neglected you, but I have an assignment for you now if you're interested…" He paused to wait for the answer. "Perfect, you remember Mr. Sylar, don't you? Yes I thought you might…well, we need you to check up on him for us…we're having a problem with his loyalties…we think he might care too much for Miss Banks. Would you please confirm that and report back to us? Thank you very much dear." He hung up the phone and turned back to Angela. "It's taken care of."

"Good, now I have to check up on someone myself, so I'll wait for you to update me with whatever your contact finds out." She left his office and headed down to the basement where the holding cells were located.

It only took her a minute to reach the one she needed; she'd been there many times before. She typed in the security code quickly and waited for the approving click before pushing open the door and stepping inside.

"Hello," she greeted him coldly.

His dark eyes turned up to her and focused intently. "I did not think I would ever see you again." His voice was subdued, but his French accent was as strong as ever.

"You sound disappointed," she noticed. "Really, you should know better; you can't get rid of me that easily." She perched on the only chair in the minimally decorated room—the chair was metal and bolted to the floor. "You disappointed me and the company. Because of you, our plans for the world were ruined. I almost lost my son because of you!" Her voice rose sharply and then settled back down. "But, your abilities are too important to simply do away with."

"I know all this," he interrupted her. "I have been locked in here for weeks. As far as I can see, I may never be released from this prison."

"This isn't prison," Angela rebuked him. "Trust me, prison isn't this clean. And you will be released eventually…once everything has been set right."

"It is not my fault that Claire went to New York."

"Yes it is. You had explicit instructions to take her safely out of the country and most of all to keep her away from Nathan. She was never even supposed to learn that Nathan was her father, but somehow she manages to slips away from you at the airport…"

"I tried to stop her…"

"She's a child! If you can't even manage a simple teenager then what good will you be to this company?"

"You underestimate Claire," he told her. A slight smile lit up his dark face. "That is your mistake."

Angela stared at him, trying to decipher his meaning. He said nothing else and she knew that he wouldn't and so she gave up and left, abandoning him once again to silence in his solitary holding cell.

JADEN & CLAIRE

NEW YORK

"I can't believe you didn't like the movie!" Jaden complained. He grabbed her hand and pulled quickly as she absentmindedly stepped off the sidewalk and into the street. "Slow down there firecracker!"

Claire looked up, realizing that she had almost stepped into traffic. "Thanks!" She grinned up at him. "You might have just saved my life, you know." She ignored the fact that even if she had been hit by a car, she would have walked away without a scratch—he didn't need to know that.

"Just call me your night in shining armor," he continued holding her hand, even though she was no longer in danger. "So, about the movie…"

"It was all gore! It was so violent."

"That's sort of what a horror movie is," he reminded her.

She shook her head. "There's enough violence and danger in the real world. I don't really feel like I need to see it in the movies too."

He squeezed her hand, "I'm sorry. Next time we'll go see a romance."

"Really?" She smiled and pulled his arm around her waist to keep him closer. "You're nice."

"I just want to make you happy."

"And that's why you're so nice," she clarified.

"All right, that's enough sappy for me." He tugged on her hand as the cross signal turned green and they crossed the street. "Are you sure your uncle's not going to be home?"

"He told me he had an errand to run and it would keep him out until at least midnight, so we've got plenty of time alone."

"What sort of errand keeps someone out until midnight?" Jaden asked.

Claire shrugged, "he didn't say." It was true. Peter had been very quiet about where he was going, but she had an idea that it had something to do with working on his abilities. They had been working together every day and he had been getting better, but they both knew he still had a long way to go.

They reached the front door of Peter's apartment complex and the doorman held it open for them. "Welcome home Miss Claire."

She continued holding tightly to Jaden's hand as she smiled at the doorman. The first few days she had been living there he had gotten confused on whether to call her Miss Petrelli or Bennett and so they had finally settled on him just calling her Claire.

"You haven't seen Peter come in yet, have you Louie?" She asked the doorman.

Louie shook his head. "No Miss, he's been out since seven."

"Great!" She sped up, pulling Jaden towards the elevators. "Thanks Louie!"

"Any time, Miss Claire!" He winked at her as Jaden pulled her into his arm, kissing her as they waited for the elevator.

"Now Jaden, I hope you're not expecting anything once we get upstairs."

He grinned and kissed her ear as the elevator doors slid apart. "Don't worry, I'm not expecting anything."

"Yes you are," she insisted. "I can see it in that smirk of yours."

"Well…I might be expecting a little something…" He started kissing her again and they stumbled into the elevator together; Jaden's back collided with the mirrored walls as the doors snapped shut. Once the elevator opened again, they kissed and giggled and tripped all the way to the apartment door.

"Wait…" she broke the kiss briefly in order to retrieve her keys from her purse. Jaden tried to resume the kiss, but she fended him off until she managed to unlock the door. The moment it was open though the kisses continued, leading them instinctively towards the couch.

"How much time do we have?" Jaden mumbled as his lips attacked her neck.

Claire tipped her head back to see the clock and to give him better access. "About thirty minutes."

"Great…" Jaden's kisses continued. Claire dropped her purse on the ground before securing her arms around him. "Tell me if I'm rushing you," he told her as he started working off her jacket.

To assure him that she was okay with everything, Claire leaned up and helped him to finish removing her jacket and then she removed his. Both jackets were dropped to the floor as the intensity of the kisses increased. Deep down, Claire realized that she was moving fast with Jaden—faster than she probably should—but being with him almost made her forget everything that had been bothering her; all her responsibilities vanished for a few minutes of juvenile pleasure. When she felt his hand slip beneath her shirt and glide over her bare stomach though, she started to react.

"Jaden…" she stopped his hand before it could move up any further.

"Sorry…" he apologized and quickly removed his hand. "I'm sorry…" his lips continued to peck her neck, but his hands behaved.

"It's fine…"

They both jumped when the front door popped open. Claire's eyes instantly scanned the doorway, but it was empty.

"We must not have closed it all the way," Jaden grinned and didn't waste a minute getting back to what he had been doing.

"Yea…" Claire felt a little confused about the door, but was distracted by Jaden's hands, which had started to wander again. "Jaden…" something just didn't feel right. Doors don't open on their own. "Jaden…stop…"

He paused for a moment to look at her. "What's wrong? Am I moving too fast?"

She hesitated. She didn't know how to answer in a way that wouldn't upset him or make him think that she was just a childish idiot. "Umm…"

"I am, aren't I?" He sat up. "I'm sorry…"

She shook her head. "It's okay…I think that maybe we should just call it a night…"

"Oh…umm…okay." Jaden removed himself from the straddling position, stood, and scooped up his jacket. "I guess I'll just see you later then."

She nodded, not moving from the couch. "Call me tomorrow, okay?"

"I will," he promised. He leaned down to give her one last kiss before leaving. "Goodnight."

She nodded, "'Night." She watched him leave, shutting the door a little harder than necessary, before sitting up and readjusting the shirt that he had displaced. "Are you here?"

It only took a moment before Peter materialized out of his invisibility. "I didn't mean to intrude…"

"Yea you did." The slight apprehension that Claire had been feeling earlier escalated into horrified guilt when she realized that Peter had seen the show. "I can't believe you were spying on me…that was private…"

"Yea, it really was."

"How long were you watching?" She stood and picked up the jacket that she now wished she'd never let him remove. "How long were you standing there?"

"Not long," he assured her. "You saw the door open."

"Yea," she was relieved that he at least hadn't witnessed the majority of her fun with Jaden. She stood and headed toward the bedroom. "I think I'm going to head to bed."

"Claire wait," he stopped her.

"Look, I don't want a lecture…I don't even want to know what you're thinking right now."

"What do you see in him?" Peter demanded, completely ignoring her protest.

"He's nice."

Peter smirked and shook his head.

"What?"

"If I hadn't come when I did, he probably would have…" Peter stopped.

"What?" Claire demanded; as much as she had protested she actually did want to know what Peter had to say.

"If he had even another minute he probably would have raped you."

"Rape?" Claire raised her voice. "God Peter, are you delusional? He wouldn't have raped me!"

"Claire he had his hand up your shirt!"

"What makes you think I didn't want it there?"

Peter was so shocked by her statement that he couldn't come up with a response.

"I'm not saying that I did…" she told him quietly. "I did ask him to stop…"

Peter's eyes showed his concern. "See what I mean…"

"And he did." Claire cut him off. "He stopped when I asked him to, and he left when I asked him to. He would never hurt me."

"Fine, if you say so." He decided it would be a good idea to drop the subject before Claire became even more upset with him. "Goodnight."

Claire didn't respond; she just turned in silence and shut herself in the bedroom.