A/N: So…while I couldn't come up with any inspiration for my term paper on Virginia Woolf, I was feeling very inspired for writing this, and I think it served as the perfect distraction from finals. Though, I think I'll be regretting the time that I spent on it now when I realize how behind I am. Oh well! I hope you enjoy…and this may be my longest chapter yet, so I'm expecting lots of reviews! Please?!?! xoxoxo

CLAUDE

NEW YORK

"Well?" Hana Gitelman stood near the window of the dank motel room they had rented; for convenience sake only they were sharing. All the lights inside were off, but light flickered through the open window from a luminescent streetlamp outside.

Claude shook his head as he entered the apartment and shut the door. Admitting that he had failed was too painful; as long as he didn't have to say it out loud it might not be necessarily true.

"Claude, come on, tell me what happened. Did he agree?"

"Not exactly," Claude hesitated. Over the past few weeks, he had gotten to know Hana well. She wasn't going to be easily appeased by his silence, but he thought it would be even worse if he told her the truth.

"What does that mean?" She pried.

"Well, I didn't exactly get around to telling him."

"What?" Her voice rose, reinforcing her already strong accent.

"He's not ready," Claude insisted. "I know him. I know how blind he is when it comes to his family. Trust me, he's not ready to hear this and if he's not ready, he won't listen easily."

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Hana asked, striding away from the window and sinking down on one of the two twin-sized beds.

"I don't know. I don't have all the answers, you know?"

Hana shook her head. "Don't take that tone with me! You're the one that dragged me all the way out here because you claimed that he would join us! What the hell are we supposed to do without him?"

Claude felt that saying 'I don't know' again would be unnecessary, so he just stayed quiet. Hana had a point. The whole plan was hinged on Peter and whether or not he would indeed join them. If he didn't, they'd be no match. He was absolutely clueless though when it came to figuring out how to convince Peter. His attachments were his weakest fault and his strongest connection—a connection that wouldn't be easy to break.

"Claude…"

"I'm thinking, all right?"

"No, Claude, I need to ask you about something else, but I don't think you want to hear it." Hana told him.

"Well? What is it?"

"You told me that once we got here you'd tell me the truth about your previous connections to these people. You said that you needed to check up on something that was taken from you a long time ago—something they took from you. I've followed you for a long time, believing in the cause and believing in you, but I won't be patient forever." She stopped when she saw the way his eyes were crinkling, forming heavy wrinkles in his forehead that she'd never seen before. "I'm sorry," she said softly. This was clearly not a topic that he was ready to discuss. "I can wait until you're ready."

"No, you should know," he decided. "It's not fair to you. You've been a great gal, comin' all this way with me, without even knowin' all the details."

"It's not about being great," Hana explained. "I really do believe in the cause. Those people ruined my life. They took everything from me. They have taken so many lives. They need to be stopped."

"You're right," Claude agreed. "And they will be. We will get Peter on our side, just as soon as the right time has come. Give me a week."

"A week?" She looked around the dingy room and sighed. "I suppose I can wait a week. I've waited this long."

"Good."

"But after a week…" she paused, a little nervous to bring up his past yet again.

"I'll tell you everything."

SYLAR

LONDON

It hadn't even been forty-eight hours since he had returned from his last assignment. That one had taken him all the way to St. Petersburg, Russia. The victim had been a man, near to his own age. Sylar had followed him for an hour before witnessing him exhibit his power. Then he had taken the power, because that is what he knew how to do. His instructions hadn't necessarily been to take the power—he was supposed to kill him, but they had said nothing about acquiring the powers for himself. Sylar didn't know why he shouldn't though; he was good at taking powers, it's how he got to where he was in life. And so he killed the man as he had been instructed, and then he had taken his ability. Usually this would make him pleased. The high he got from killing and taking on a new power was usually exhilarating—absolutely indescribable. This time though, he didn't feel excited; he wasn't even pleased. He felt angry. He felt sick. He felt…

"Hello?"

Sylar turned as the door to his apartment creaked open and she stuck her head inside as she called out to him.

"Emily!" His heart leaped as she stepped into the apartment, shutting the door behind her entrance. "I was hoping you'd stop by today."

"You were?" She smiled and waited as he approached her.

"Of course! I told you I'd be back today, so I assumed you would get the urge to stop by. If you didn't though, I would have come to see you."

"You would have?"

He nodded emphatically. "I missed you, a lot."

"I missed you too."

Sylar waited for her to move, but she was still standing by the door. All he had been able to think about the whole time he was away was Emily and how much he wanted to be back with her, holding her tightly, and kissing her all through the night. Now though, she was behaving a little strangely; she was acting almost indifferently. "Is everything okay?"

She nodded, but still didn't make a move.

"Don't I even get a kiss?"

She nodded again, but still waited for him to come nearer to her.

Sylar tried to ignore the oddity to her actions and slipped his arm around her waist, drawing her close. "Every time we're apart, I realize just how much I love you!" He pressed his lips over hers and held the kiss for a long moment before pulling away. Something about the kiss was different. The passion was there, but her lips didn't feel the same. They didn't mesh with his the same way as they usually did. I'm probably just being paranoid. It's been a long week...but he couldn't shake the strange feeling. "Do you love me?"

She nodded.

"Tell me. Tell me you love me! I like hearing you say my name."

She hesitated. Her eyes shifted briefly, but she finally spoke. "I love you…"

"Say my name," he begged.

"I love you Sylar."

Sylar pulled his arms from her waist quickly, shaking his head. "What the hell is this? Who are you?"

She frowned for a moment, but then her lips turned up as she recognized her mistake. "Emily doesn't know who you really are. She only knows you as Isaac Mendez. That must be painful for you to love someone who doesn't even know your real name."

"Shut up." Sylar snapped. "Who are you?"

Her lips stretched wider and she started to chuckle. Sylar watched as the air in front of him seemed to ripple and the girl standing in front of him changed. One moment she looked exactly like the Emily Banks that he was in love with and the next she was a stranger—slender with chocolate brown hair that hung straight to her shoulders.

"Hi," she winked at him and placed her hands on her hips.

"Who are you?" He repeated again.

"No need to be so rude. We're on the same side."

"The same side? I don't even know your name. Right now I'm thinking we're not the same anything." He raised his hand, lifting her a foot off the ground.

"Seriously?" She rolled her eyes. "You're seriously resorting to your abilities? I'm clearly one of your kind. You saw what I can do…"

"I did," he nodded. "And I have to say it's pretty risky of you to barge into my home, knowing what I could do to you."

She laughed. "You mean steal my ability? I don't think that would go over very well with our employers." She noticed the change in his expression. "That's right, we both work for Mr. Okenberg."

Sylar released his telekinetic hold on her and she dropped to the floor unexpectedly. "What's your name? And what are you doing here?"

"I'm Candace," she finally introduced herself. "And I'm here to make sure that you haven't changed your priorities…I don't think our bosses would like that very much."

"I haven't," he snapped.

"Are you sure?" She shook a stray piece of hair from her eye as she talked to him; her manner was informal and unbearably sarcastic. Sylar felt that if she hadn't approached him in disguise as Emily and with the intent to discover his secret, he would actually like her quite a bit.

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Hmm…" She crossed her arms and let her eyes roam over him as though mentally memorizing his appearance. "Because if I didn't know better, I'd say that you were letting your emotions get way from you."

"Thanks for the concern, but my emotions are just fine."

"You sure about that?" Candace narrowed her eyes at him and grinned. The air turned misty once again and a moment later she had returned to the physical appearance of Emily. Now that Sylar knew she was a fake, he was astonished at how perfectly Candace could mimic Emily. Everything was exact, right down to the last naturally curled piece of red hair and the miniscule mole just above the right eyebrow. Staring at her, Sylar realized how much he really did miss Emily. He couldn't stop thinking about her and the last night that they had spent together, just before he had to leave for Russia.

"Stop that," he growled suddenly.

"Stop what?" She asked innocently. Even her voice sounded like Emily—the soft tone with the adorable British accent. "I thought you loved me!"

"Stop it!" Sylar demanded again, this time raising his voice.

Candace giggled as she faded back into her own appearance. "Yea, you've really got your emotions under control."

Sylar scowled. "So what if I'm interested in someone? If it's against the rules, they never mentioned it."

Candace shook her head. "As far as I know, it's not against the rules. That's not the point. It's not that you're interested in someone, it's that you've fallen for one of your assignments. When they sent you to London, they sort of assumed you'd be done in a day or two. You've been here for over a month."

"I like it here. They don't control where I choose to live. I still do all the assignments I'm given. I've traveled to nearly ten different countries in the past four weeks. Why should they complain if I choose to live in this one?"

Candace shrugged. "Just be sure that this is only about location and not about romance. If they find out that you've been concealing the fact that Miss Banks has exhibited an ability…"

"I'm not concealing anything!" Sylar insisted. "If they had asked about our relationship I would have told them." Even as he said it, he knew it wasn't true. "I don't think Emily has any abilities. Like you said, it's been over a month, and I haven't seen her do anything out of the ordinary. Honestly, I think she's just a regular person."

"Well, they don't," Candace told him. "They have reason to believe that she will evolve eventually, and the moment that happens, they'll be waiting for your call."

"Fine." Sylar stepped around her to open the door. "I think we're done here."

"I guess so," Candace backed up toward the door, but before leaving she hooked her arm around his neck and pulled him in for a kiss. "Thanks for the fun."

"You're not welcome."

"Ouch," she stepped out into the hall. "You really know how to make a woman swoon. I bet you don't talk to Emily like that." She laughed once more. "Of course you don't. She thinks you're Isaac Mendez, and he's a sweetheart. See, I had the pleasure of meeting the poor bastard…before you decapitated him that is…he was a nice guy, really. Sort of messed up in the girlfriend department…hmm…I guess you two do have something in common after all…"

Sylar let the door slam shut, not interested in hearing anything else that she felt necessary to say. Candace only wanted to annoy him, and she was doing a very good job at it. He didn't need her to remind him that the relationship he had with Emily wasn't real. It was painfully obvious every time they were together and she would call him by name—Isaac. He hated it, but there was nothing he could do; if he told her the truth he was certain he would lose her. Losing her was not an option.

CLAIRE

SCHOOL – NEW YORK

"Great high-kick Claire!"

Claire beamed at the compliment the cheer captain had just given her. She had been at school for less than a week and had already dazzled her way onto the cheer team; it was lucky for her they had lost one of their members due to an unexpected pregnancy. This was only her second afternoon practice with the team, but she already felt more settled than she had for the past couple weeks in New York. Cheering was something she was familiar with—something she was good at—and most of all it was something to take her mind off of everything else that was making her life difficult.

"Thanks Jenny!" She shouted back as she prepared for the next high kick of the cheer routine they were practicing.

"Now show me some of those round-offs you've been bragging about!" Jenny ordered, pointing to a stretch of field for Claire to demonstrate on.

"Bragging?" Claire gasped.

Jenny grinned and habitually shook her wispy red bangs out of her eyes. "I'm just teasing you Claire. I saw you messing around after practice yesterday. So, get moving!"

Claire obediently jogged a short distance away from the other girls, giving herself plenty of room for a display of a few round-offs for her demanding captain. "Here I go!" She announced as she prepped herself with a couple quick jumps before bounding in to a set of round-offs.

The team watched her and burst in to a round of applause once she had finished her performance. Jenny congratulated Claire with an overly enthusiastic hug, and once again gushed about how glad she was that Claire had joined the team.

After practice, the girls headed as a group toward the locker room, weaving between the throng of football players who were warming up at the other end of the field.

"So, are you ready for your first pep rally tomorrow?" Jenny asked Claire as they walked side-by-side.

"Truthfully, I'm a little nervous!" Claire confessed. "I barely know anybody here yet, but they'll all see me tomorrow…"

"It's a good way for you to get to know people," Jenny told her. "Everyone's going to love you." She glanced at the guys. "They'll love you."

Claire turned her head to follow Jenny's gaze, but in the moment she had turned she collided with someone who had been running in their direction with his eyes focused on his feet.

"Watch where you're going, moron!" Jenny shouted at the guy on Claire's behalf.

Claire, who had been knocked off her feet, shook her head at Jenny. "That was totally my fault, I wasn't looking…" She glanced up at the stranger taking a moment to get a good look at him. She couldn't remember seeing him around school and even though she had only been there a few days, it wasn't a very large school and; she thought she might at least have recognized his face.

"I'm really sorry…" He mumbled and awkwardly stuck out his right hand.

"It's fine," Claire took the hand he offered and let him help her stand. "It wasn't your fault any more than mine."

"Yea, umm, okay, well sorry…" He nodded, shifted on his short and slightly chubby legs, and started to turn away; once again he turned his eyes down. "I…I'll stay out of your way."

"Wait a minute…" Claire frowned at his behavior. "I'm Claire…"

For a minute he just stared at her, seemingly too stunned to reply.

She had to prod him to talk. "What's your name?"

"Sam," he answered abruptly.

"Nice to meet you Sam," she smiled kindly.

Jenny let out a slight moan and tugged at Claire's hand. "We've got to go now."

"Okay," Claire smiled at Sam once more. "Well, I'm sure I'll see you around some time Sam."

His brown eyes bulged as he stared at her. "Really? I mean yea…I'll see you around."

Claire let Jenny pull her off towards the locker room. "What the hell was that about?"

"What do you mean?" Claire sometimes felt that playing dumb was the best option. She knew exactly why Jenny was upset. Claire was very familiar with the frustrating social distinctions enforced by high school students. Even though she was new to this school, she knew exactly how the social hierarchy worked—the same as any other school. Cheerleaders do not associate with guys like Sam. But she was that girl once upon a time back in Texas, and she didn't want to be her again. She didn't want to ignore someone that she could be friends with just because they were different. She behaved that way for years with Zach and he turned out to be her only true friend.

"Claire, you have made incredible progress at this school and in such a short time. I couldn't imagine why you would want to jeopardize your position…"

"God Jenny, all I did was say 'hi' to a guy. It's not like I invited him to prom." Claire popped the top off her water bottle and took a long sip.

They reached the edge of the field and Jenny looked back to see Sam being surrounded by a few of the football guys. They were laughing and pointing at him. Jenny grinned, imagining what sort of jokes they were making at his expense. "I just want to make sure you know who you belong with…"

Who I belong with? Claire gave Jenny a smile, but inside she was laughing. Trust me Jenny, that's the least of my worries.

"Claire!"

The girls turned at the holler coming from outside the gate that fenced in the practice field. Jenny's eyes widened when she spotted the owner of the voice.

"Who's that?"

Claire smiled and sprinted towards the fence. "Jaden!" By time she reached the fence, he had found the gate that allowed him access onto the field and was waiting for her with his arms open.

"Surprised?"

She nearly leapt into his arms and he rewarded her with a flurry of kisses.

"What are you doing here?" She asked him once he gave her mouth a chance to speak. "You're supposed to be working at the hospital!"

"I know, but I got someone to cover my shift tonight."

"Why?" Claire loved the feeling of his arms around her, his hands on her back, and his cheek pressed against hers.

"Because I want to take my girl out."

"What makes you think I'm free tonight?"

"For me? I'm pretty sure you'll be free."

"Cocky much?" Claire rolled her eyes. "You know I always want to spend every moment with you, but I promised Peter I'd be home tonight."

"Are you serious?" Jaden frowned. "You spend more time with him than you do with me. He's a big boy Claire. I think he can handle one night alone."

"It's not that…" Claire knew that Jaden would never understand. From his perspective it must seem strange how much time she spent with her uncle, but he needed her. They needed to work on getting his abilities under control. They had been making a lot of progress, but they still had a lot to do. It seemed like every time they got one power under control, another that they had forgotten about popped up. And now, especially since Claude had suddenly turned up, Peter seemed even more unsteady than usual.

"Claire…" Jaden was reading her expression and it didn't make him happy. "Please come out with me tonight! Let your uncle find a different babysitter."

"I shouldn't neglect him," Claire reasoned with herself.

Jaden tightened his arms around her waist. "You shouldn't neglect me."

Claire grinned and nodded. "I'll call him okay? No promises, but I'll do my best to make him understand. I've got to get my things from the locker room, do you want to wait for me?"

Jaden's phone rang and he checked the ID quickly. "Umm…no actually I've got to take this call…"

"Oh?" Claire tried to read the name, but he turned away from her.

"It's just work. I'll pick you up at seven."

"Okay." Claire let him answer the call as she ran back across the field to where she had abandoned Jenny.

"Hi," Jaden answered his phone as he started walking away from the field.

"Miss me?"

"I always do," Jaden smiled at the familiar voice on the other line. "But I know that's not the only reason you're calling me."

"You know me so well," she laughed. "I'm calling to find out how your progress is going."

"So, they've made you my keeper now?"

"No, I asked if I could be. I thought it would be nice if we had more opportunities to talk, and since we're both so busy…"

"I know, I'm just giving you a hard time, sweetie." Jaden glanced over his shoulder to make sure that Claire hadn't decided to come running after him. Things would be ruined if she heard this phone call. "Things are going fine here."

"Really?"

"Sort of. I'm doing my best to keep Claire away from Peter, but she's very stubborn."

"So try harder. I know how persuasive you can be if you put your mind to it."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence. I'm doing what I can."

"Jaden, I don't think I need to remind you how important it is for Peter not to develop his powers fully. If you can't keep this girl from helping him, then we might as well just give up now."

"Stop it Sasha," Jaden scolded.

"Stop what?" Sasha laughed again. "I'm not hurting your feelings am I?"

"You're being mean so I'll work harder," Jaden sighed. "Well, it's working okay."

"I know. It always does."

"You're lucky I like you so much."

"Do you really?" Sasha loved to tease him. "I had no idea…"

"Look, I'll keep Claire away from her uncle tonight and every night. Sooner than you know she won't even want to be around him. He will be alone and she will be vulnerable and then I'll bring her in." Jaden let out another sigh. "It's just going to take some time, okay?"

"Why?" Sasha demanded.

"Because she's not an idiot. And she's sweet. She really cares about people, and she especially cares about her uncle."

"She's sweet?" Sasha repeated. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," Jaden defended himself quickly. "It doesn't mean anything. It's just what it is. She's a sweet kid."

"Just remember that's all she is." Sasha told him. "She's a kid. She's just an assignment. You're not actually dating her."

"Yea, I know that," he snapped.

Sasha was quiet for a moment. "Jaden, you don't actually like her, do you?"

"What? Of course not!"

"It would be understandable. I mean, she's adorable, and sweet…you said so yourself." Sasha paused again. "And you have been spending a lot of time with her, pretending to really like her…"

"What are you hinting at?"

"I don't know. Maybe a part of you has actually fallen for her…"

"Don't be stupid," Jaden rebuked her. "Claire is just a job."

"I'd like to believe that…"

"Don't worry baby, you know you're the only one for me."

"And it better stay that way," Sasha reminded him.

"How's your assignment?" Jaden changed the topic swiftly.

"Excellent. Dr. Suresh is doing exactly as I say. We are leaving Seattle tomorrow."

"Good, I'm very proud of how well you're doing."

"Really? That sounded forced," Sasha commented. "What's wrong?"

"I'm just sad we're not together," Jaden confessed.

"Really?"

"Yes, is that so hard to believe?"

"No," Sasha sighed. "Let's just get our jobs done so we can be together again."

"Sounds good to me. I'll talk to you later sweetheart," Jaden waited for her to say goodbye before hanging up the phone.