A/N: This is a really long update, and it's all focused on them, which is unusual for me, but there was a lot that needed to happen. Prepare for another twist. I hope you enjoy! Please, please review and let me know how I pulled this off! Thanks!

SYLAR & EMILY

LONDON

"Where did we decide to go? My place or yours?" Sylar tightened his hold on Emily's hand as they stopped at the curb and waited for the cars to pass.

Emily didn't respond to either his question or his hand squeeze.

"Emily? Is something wrong?"

She turned her head to look at him and smiled very faintly.

"Sweetheart, you don't look well. Are you sick?" He felt strange caring so much, but the idea of Emily being at all unwell terrified him.

"No, I'm fine," she assured him. "It's just everything about you is so…" she faltered for a word. "Right," she finished. "Being with you is always brilliant. I couldn't ask for anything more."

Sylar's head felt light in a sensation he had never experienced before. "I feel the same way."

"But…"

His heart seemed to stop at the impact of her one simple word. "But?"

"I feel so terrible."

"Why?" He turned to face her. "Emily why?"

"I…" she hesitated. "There's so much about me that you don't know."

His heart beat regularly again. "Is that all?" He kissed the top of her nose. "Emily, you don't know everything about me either."

"I'm sure I don't, but there are things—specific things—that I have kept from you." She explained. "I have a whole history of secrets…and I'm so afraid to tell you about my past."

"We all have a past," Sylar told her. "I would never think less of you for anything." He kissed her again. "Nothing you ever tell me will change the way I feel about you."

Her green eyes glistened. "Really?"

"Absolutely. And don't even feel like you have to share something with me if it makes you uncomfortable. You can keep your secrets." God knows I have my share.

Emily flung her arms around his neck. "I love you so much, and I want to tell you everything."

"You do?"

"Yes, in time. I don't want to have secrets from you, because I believe that you really would accept me for who I am."

Sylar nodded. He knew instantly that Emily had an ability. He recognized the gleam in her eyes when she mentioned a secret—the gleam of the unnatural.

"But tonight, let's just go back to my place. I'm exhausted." She slipped her hand into his again and they started walking. "Let's take the shortcut through the alley," she suggested as they approached the dark alleyway that cut between her gallery and the bookshop next door. The door to her apartment was around the corner, or there were back stairs through the alley.

"So, how exhausted are you?" He asked as let her lead the way. "Because of course, I'm tired too, but is this like the kind of tired that needs sleep or like a full body massage with oils and candles and…"

Emily had started to laugh, but they were both cut off as a blinding bold of lightening shot out of the sky and struck the brick wall only a few feet from where they were.

"Oh god" Emily shrieked and leapt behind Sylar instinctively.

"What the hell…" Sylar stared at the scorched spot on the bricks. He had never had such a close call with lightening. It wasn't natural.

"There's no storm," Emily commented.

"There aren't even any clouds." Sylar added.

Before they had another chance to consider the bizarre occurrence, another bold struck the ground directly behind them. A moment later a girl strode out from behind a dumpster. Her hair was shorter and her eyes were fiercer, but Sylar instantly recognized her as his assignment in Holland a few weeks ago: Anika.

"Emily run!" He ordered, not wanting to risk her being caught in what was clearly an act of revenge, though he was confused about how Anika escaped from the company's guard.

"I wouldn't go anywhere if I were you, doll. Without you, he's fried." Anika winked at Emily and lifted one hand up to the sky. Lightening sparked in the cloudless sky, creating one sharp bolt that connected with her hand. "I have pretty good aim. Want to see?" Anika directed the lightening bolt directly at Sylar and released it.

Sylar felt frozen. None of the abilities he possessed prepared him for this. He thought for sure he was dead. Before he knew what had happened though, Emily had jumped in front of him with her own hands outstretched and the lightening vanished.

A smile lit up Anika's face and she dropped her hands to her side. "Thanks doll, that's all I wanted to know." She turned and skipped away into the dark night.

"Oh god…" Emily turned to Sylar the moment they were alone. "Are you hurt?"

He shook his head, but stared at her in confusion. For whatever reason he had assumed Anika had shown up, he knew how that he was wrong. It wasn't about revenge at all. It was about Emily, but he didn't know why.

"I am so sorry, Isaac." Emily cowered away from him, covering her face with her hands. "I never should have let you become involved with me. It was a horrible mistake."

"What?" Sylar pulled her hands away from her face. "What's a mistake? Us? You don't really think that, Emily."

She nodded and started to cry. "I never should have lied to you. That girl was after me…"

"Why?" Sylar wasn't sure what to say. He knew that Anika was after Emily, but he didn't know how to tell Emily this.

"Because of who I am." She was crying so much now that Sylar had a hard time hearing her. "I'm sorry that I've gotten you involved…"

"Emily," Sylar pulled her into his arms and held her head to his chest. "You have nothing to apologize for. I got myself involved." He soothingly stroked her long hair. "Come on, let's go inside so you can calm down a bit."

"I have to tell you the truth," she insisted.

"And you can, but let's go in first." Keeping his arm firmly around her shoulders, Sylar directed Emily away from the ominous alleyway and to the back steps leading up to her apartment. "You can tell me everything when you're feeling more stable."

Emily's crying had calmed down to a persistent whimper now, but her body was still trembling beneath Sylar's touch. Once they had made it into the apartment, Sylar made certain that Emily was comfortable on the couch and then he went to make her a mug of peppermint tea—her favorite. He wouldn't let her talk again until she had drunk half the mug and her trembling had subsided.

"Now, what makes you think that girl came here for you?" Sylar prodded the conversation to get Emily talking again.

Her lips sucked at the brim of her mug, but she didn't drink. "Because I ran away from them a long time ago…"

"Them?" Sylar repeated.

"The company," she barely whispered out the word.

Sylar tried not to react. He couldn't let Emily know the truth about him yet—not until she had told him her secrets. He felt it was important for him to hear everything that she was hiding.

"It's an organization," she told him in response to his silence. "A very horrid group of people who hunt down people with…" she paused and took a sip before continuing, "with special abilities."

"What do you mean?" Sylar pretended not to know.

"I'm not normal," she stated simply.

Sylar waited for her to explain further.

She sighed. "I can do things that nobody should be able to do. I can't explain it probably in any way that would make sense to you, but certain people's DNA evolves beyond what's normal, giving them the ability to do extraordinary things."

"What do you mean by extraordinary?" Sylar asked.

"Umm…I can repel things…"

"Repel? What sort of things?"

"Anything."

"Show me," he told her.

Now it was her turn to be quiet.

"Please," he spoke quietly.

"I don't want to freak you out."

"You won't," he assured her.

She took a deep breath and then stood up, set the tea down on the table, and motioned for him to stand as well. "Throw something at me."

"Like what?"

"Anything," she pointed to the knife block on the counter. "Throw a knife at me."

"A knife, but…"

"Trust me, it will be fine."

Sylar nodded and chose one of the sharp steak knifes from the block. He waited for Emily to nod and then flung it at her. When it was only a foot away, she held out her hand and the knife stopped in mid-air and dropped to the ground.

"Wow…" Sylar's eyes widened. "That was cool."

"Cool?" She shook her head. "It isn't so cool when you are being forced to undergo dozens of tests a day, without rest or any control…" her eyes started to tear up again and Sylar realized that there was more to the secret that she was keeping from him.

"How did that girl know to look for you?"

"They must have sent her to find me."

"And by they you mean the organization that you mentioned earlier?"

"Yes," Emily sat down again and finished drinking her tea. "I ran away from them a long time ago. I thought they had given up, but clearly not."

"You ran away from them? What does that mean?"

She gripped the mug tightly with both her hands; even though it was now empty, she still wouldn't put it down. "This group—they're known as The Company—and there are a lot of people who are involved with them. One of them is my dad."

"Your dad?" Now Sylar genuinely was confused. Why did they send me here to watch her if they already knew all about her?

"I was born and raised at the mercy of The Company. My dad worked with them long before I was born, and once I was he had no trouble handing me over to them." She sat perfectly still as she explained the whole story to him. "I don't know who my mom was, but she had abilities too. My dad didn't though, which was maybe why he was so curious about what I was capable of."

"I don't understand," Sylar interrupted. "Why did you run away from your own father?"

"He wasn't a good person," she assured him. "He was the one who offered me to The Company for their experiments."

"What sort of experiments?"

"All sorts," she answered. "At first they would just test me to see how much I could do with my abilities. Then they would see how long I could last at a time. After a few years, they realized that I could withstand almost anything. By the time I was thirteen they were shooting bullets at me to see if I could stop them."

"They're lucky you could," Sylar commented.

"Sometimes I think it would have been better for me if I hadn't been able to."

"I know it must have been a difficult childhood for you, but do you think that maybe they were just maybe trying to help you develop your ability?"

Emily shook her head firmly. "If it had stopped there, perhaps, but it only became worse later on."

"How much worse?"

She couldn't sit still any longer; she started pacing the floor in front of the sofa where they both had been sitting. Sylar followed her with his eyes. "When I was fourteen they started researching something new—something different."

"What was it?"

"Breeding."

"I'm sorry?" Sylar thought he had heard her wrong.

"I'm not sure who started it, but my dad was very eager to help with the research. They wanted to know what the probability was of evolving DNA in offspring. They knew of many kids who had abilities and also had parents with abilities, such as my mom and me, but they wondered if there would be a pattern, or if certain abilities would breed certain powers…" she cut off, momentarily unable to say anything else.

"What does any of this have to do with you?"

"It took them a while to perfect their research, but when I was fifteen they started experimenting. They chose me as their first subject."

"They used you for breeding experiments?"

She nodded. "It took a few times for me to become pregnant." Her voice was catching, but she did well to keep back the tears. "I spent the nine months of my pregnancy fearing what would happen to my child. I didn't want The Company to raise my baby the same way they raised me, running tests and subjecting her to horrible experiments."

"Her?"

"Yes," Emily smiled. "I had a daughter."

"Where is she? What happened?"

"Well, like I said, I ran away." She explained. "After I had my daughter, I took her and got away from there. I gave her away; I thought it would be the safest for her to be raised somewhere far away from me so they would never find her. I changed my name and moved here."

"You changed your name?"

She nodded. "And moved. I'm really from the states, just like you."

"But your accent is so convincing…"

"Oh, it's real. I've been living here for nearly eleven years now."

"Right," Sylar was still having a hard time wrapping his mind around everything. "So, your daughter is in America then?"

"As far as I know," Emily confirmed. "I don't know where she ended up. I left her with a nun at a church in California. I couldn't risk going through an adoption agency, but the nun promised me she found my baby a good home."

"I'm so sorry for everything you've been through." He stood and stopped her unceasing pacing. "I hate them for what they've done to you." As he said the words, he realized that it was true. He had never known the remorse he was experiencing right now. He hated The Company for hurting Emily and for all the others they had undoubtedly subjected to the same torture; most of all though, he hated himself for being one of those people who created such pain and fear.

"Now that they've found me, they'll be sending someone to retrieve me. I have to get away from here. I have to hide."

"You will. We'll go away together. They will never find you Emily. I promise you that I'm never going to let anything bad happen to you again."

"No," she shook her head and pulled away from him suddenly. "You shouldn't be anywhere near me. It's too dangerous for you, Isaac."

Sylar flinched. I'm going to lose her. "Emily, there's something I have to tell you now." He hated that it had finally come to this. "I have a secret too, and I'm afraid that it's not one you're going to be able to accept as easily as I accepted yours."

Emily took his hand and led him back to the couch. "You accepted my secret completely. I'll accept anything you tell me in the same way."

I wish it were that easy. "First of all, I'm not who you think I am. I mean, I'm not Isaac Mendez."

Emily stared at him. After confessing her dark secret, she hadn't expected for him to respond with one of his own.

"Emily, please say something…"

She shook her head; things started making sense to her. "You're part of them, aren't you?" She took a few steps back and held out her hand as if to block him. "You've been here all this time to spy on me!"

"No…" he wanted to move closer to her, but he was afraid to make her too nervous. "I mean, technically yes, but it's not what you think." He could see her shutting him out. "Please, you have to listen to me. You have to let me explain."

"Why should I?"

"Because I love you…and a minute ago I know that you loved me."

"No," she shook her head. "I loved Isaac, but he doesn't even exist!"

Sylar shook his head. "There's no reason that you should believe me. I've done nothing to deserve it, but please just hear me out."

Emily seemed ready to run, but she finally nodded and sat down on the couch again. "You listened to my sob story; the least I can do is give you a few minutes."

Sylar gave her a smile, but stopped when he realized that she wasn't going to smile back. "Okay…here goes." He stood throughout his explanation. "Last year I discovered that I had an ability of my own—I can see things that are broken—like when something isn't working right in a person's mind. When I met others with special abilities, I could see that their mind was broken." He wondered if he had started this explanation at the right place. Maybe it was too early to tell her all his secrets, but the way her eyes bored into him, he knew he couldn't leave anything out. "The power that I felt from having an ability, from being special, took over me. I no longer thought about anything except the fact that I could acquire more power…"

"How?" Emily couldn't help but interrupt.

"I took them from others," he told her. "I'm not a good person Emily. I've hurt a lot of people—I've killed a lot of people."

"Killed?" Emily stood immediately, and once again looked ready to flee.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he assured her quickly. She stayed standing though. "There were a couple people who discovered the truth about me and wanted to stop me. I had become too greedy and had taken too many powers to be ignored. Finally, they found me and we fought and I was stabbed. I thought I was dead, but The Company saved my life. There's a girl who works for them—she has the ability to control people's vitals."

"Sasha," Emily commented.

"Yes, you know her?"

"They recruited her just before I left. She was only two years older than me—only seventeen." Emily shook her head. "She didn't have any control over her abilities then, but I can only imagine how advanced they have become now."

"Anyway, after healing me completely, they started putting me on assignments. I would travel to lots of different places to hunt out people with abilities. Some of them I would kill, and then take their abilities, and some The Company would come and collect."

"For their experiments," Emily filled in.

"I guess so," Sylar had never gotten a direct answer about what happened to the others or even why he was only allowed to kill certain ones. "Eventually they assigned me to you. They didn't tell me anything about your past. You have to believe that I had no idea who you were. First, I was supposed to find out what Isaac's most recent painting was of, and then I was supposed to watch you and see if you ever showed signs of an ability." He shrugged. "I had no idea that they already knew. I guess they just wanted me to keep an eye on you, or to confirm what they already knew."

"Why you?"

"I don't know."

"Are you going to kill me now? Is that why they sent you?"

"No," Sylar shook his head firmly. "They never mentioned anything specific. They just instructed me to find out what you could do. I told them a week ago that I didn't think you had an ability, but I think they believed I was protecting you because they sent another employee to test my feelings for you. I failed the test. I haven't been sent on an assignment since."

"What do you mean, they tested you?"

"There's another girl that works with them, her name's Candace, and she can create illusions," Sylar explained. "She can make you see whatever she wants you to see. She made me believe that she was you and came over to the apartment. I told her that I loved her, or well you, and undoubtedly she reported back to The Company. Falling in love with you was definitely not a part of the assignment. If they thought for a second that I had compromised the mission because of my feelings for you…" He sighed. "That must be why they sent Anika tonight."

"Anika?"

"The lightening girl. I found her in Holland a few weeks ago and The Company took her back to train I guess. But they must have sent her to test you, to see if I was lying or not."

Emily was quiet again; she seemed to be taking everything in. Then she spoke: "How many people have you killed?"

"Does that really matter?"

"It matters to me," she told him.

"To be honest I don't keep count."

Emily did not seem happy with that answer. "Why are you telling me all this now?"

"Because I finally know what regret feels like." Sylar told her. "Before I knew you…my life was incomplete. The only thing that satisfied me was knowing that I was special, but I wasn't happy. I did what I was good at and I never stopped to think about who I was hurting along the way. Now, I can't stop thinking about it all though." Images of his past victims flashed through his mind. He tried to block them out, but it was useless. "I wish I could take it all back—go back to before I learned what I could do." He smiled a little. "I wish you had known me back then. I used to be normal…I was a good person once."

"And you can be again," Emily answered.

Sylar was surprised by her response. "You don't hate me?"

"I hate what you've done. And I hate that you lied to me, but I lied to you too, so I can't hold that against you. I don't know if I believe your remorse yet, and I don't know if you truly love me, or if it's all just a part of The Company's plan to capture me, but I can't hate you, because I really do love you."

"You do?" Sylar moved towards her, but she held up her hands.

"That doesn't mean that I trust you," Emily told him. "I can't change the way I feel about you, but I can stay away from you." She picked up her purse from where she had dropped it by the door. "I don't want to see you again."

"Emily, wait!" Sylar started to follow her, but his phone rang. Emily waited while he answered it. "Hello?"

"Hello."

"Mrs. Petrelli, I have to admit I didn't expect to be hearing from you." Sylar held a hand out to Emily, hoping she wouldn't leave yet.

"I hear you had a run in with Anika this evening," Angela continued the conversation with her normal, calm voice. "I also heard about Miss Banks' surprising display."

"Yes, it was very surprising," Sylar told her.

"Was it really?"

"Are you suggesting that I have known all along and didn't tell you? That would be accusing me of betrayal…"

"I'm aware of what it would mean for you," Angela agreed. "Which is why, for your sake, I am choosing to believe that you were entirely unaware up until tonight of what she was capable of."

"I was," he confirmed.

"Then I can only imagine how surprised you must have been to see her exhibit a power."

"I was shocked."

"Well, I expect then, that you know what comes next."

"Is she going to be brought in?"

"Actually, we would like for you to bring her in. Since this assignment will be over once you bring her in, you may as well come and get your new assignment." Angela instructed him. "We'll expect you to arrive, with Miss Banks, by seven o'clock tomorrow morning, all right?"

Sylar glanced at Emily, who hadn't left, but still remained close to the door. "Of course, we'll be there."

"Good, we'll have a new assignment waiting." Angela hung up without another word.

"That was them, wasn't it?" Emily asked the moment Sylar had put down his phone.

"Yes," Sylar confirmed. "They want me to bring you in tomorrow morning. If I don't show up with you, they'll know I've betrayed them and they'll send people after the both of us."

"So is that it? You're just going to give me to them, to save your own ass?" She put her hand on the doorknob. "Not likely."

"Emily wait!" He rushed to stop her. "I didn't say I was going to take you to them. I had hoped you would understand by now that I don't want anything to hurt you."

She shook her head. "And I thought I told you that I didn't ever want to see you again."

"There's no reason that you should ever forgive me—nobody should." Sylar took a step away from her, fearing that he was too close for her comfort. "But I need you to trust that I want to protect you. I will protect you, if you let me."

"How are you going to do that? The Company wants me and when you don't bring me they'll send others, you said so yourself."

"We'll leave," he decided quickly.

"Leave?"

"Yea, we'll leave the country. We'll hide from them. They won't find us, and even if they do, I can keep you safe. I promise." He stared at her sincerely. "Please, I know I have no right to ask, but please trust me. I love you and I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you."

Emily shook her head. It didn't feel right staying with a confessed murderer, but at the same time, she didn't feel right leaving him either. He was the first person she had ever truly cared for. She needed to believe that he could change, that he could be a good person if someone gave him a chance; she wanted to be that person. And yet, she hesitated.

"Where would we go?" She asked at last.

"Anywhere you want!" Sylar hoped that her question meant she was considering it. "We could go to Australia, do you like beaches? Or, if not, we could go somewhere with lots of green, like Scotland…"

Emily smiled, despite her uncertainty. She appreciated the effort he was making to appease her.

"Emily, please, I don't know how to make you trust me, but just give me a chance," he reached a hand out towards her, but pulled it back before touching her. "I want to prove to you that I have changed."

"We'll see about that," she sighed. "But we'll deal with it later. For now, I want to go to the States."

"Really?"

"I've always wanted to return. I think it would be a good hiding place. They wouldn't expect me to go back there."

"Then you'll go with me?" His eyes lit up with excitement.

"Yes," she agreed. "I'll go, but the first sign that you haven't changed…"

"And I will never hold it against you, but I promise I'm not going to disappoint you," he reached out to her again and this time she let him hold her hand. "We'll go to New York. It's a big city, lots of people. It will be harder for them to find us."

"It will be harder, but not impossible," Emily reminded him. "If they did find us, they wouldn't hesitate to kill you. Why are you so willing to risk your life for me?"

"One because I love you, but two…" Sylar paused. "I've been destroying so many lives for so long, sacrificing everyone else…it's time that I make some sacrifices of my own."

She nodded. "All right."

"We need to leave immediately," he told her, suddenly rushing. "I can give you one hour to pack up—only the necessities. I'll make the arrangements and be back to pick you up." He started to leave, but she stopped him.

"Wait, before you go…you never even told me who you are."

"My name's Gabriel Gray," he told her. "Ever since I learned of my ability though, people have known me only as Sylar."

"I like Gabriel," she told him. She smiled and he realized how attached he had become to her smile. "My real name's Andrea. Andrea Parkman."