A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long, but here it is, and I have the next update almost ready too, so that will be up soon. Thanks (in advance) for the reviews!

ANGELA PETRELLI & THE COMPANY

LONDON

"Did he do it?"

"Of course he did," Angela replied curtly. "He wouldn't dare not to."

"Excellent," Mr. Okenberg smiled at her success. "May I ask what he put into Peter's mind this time?"

Angela looked skeptical about confiding it, but she did anyway. "He showed Peter the happiness he would have if he were to give into his desires."

"And this happiness, and these desires, I assume they involve his niece."

"Yes," Angela confirmed.

"Then what do you expect to happen now?"

"I expect Peter to either react in extreme defensiveness to his dreams and push her away, or perhaps they will disillusion him into believing that he and Claire can truly have a relationship together." Angela paused. "It may sound cruel, but I personally hope he does attempt to pursue something with her."

"Why?"

"Because I know my granddaughter and she would never excuse it; she will push him away."

"That's good," Mr. Okenberg decided. "If she is the one to pull away, he won't have anyone to turn to and he will be vulnerable."

"As will she," Angela concluded.

"Was it easy to make him cooperate?"

Angela shook her head. "No, he was difficult. As predicted."

"I wish he wouldn't make things so complicated," Mr. Okenberg mused. "He used to be such an excellent addition to our team."

"Yes, I remember," Angela cut him off.

"Forgive me Angela," he smiled at her kindly. "I know how painful it must be for you to accept his betrayal."

"Please," Angela waved her hand like she were swatting at a fly. "It's unfortunate that it had to happen at all, but I don't like to dwell on the unhappy events in my life, so I have chosen to move on."

"I see."

"Just as in time I will move past this little setback that I am experiencing with my ignorant, self-centered sons." She fixed a smile on her face. "I have to go now. The boss is waiting for my report and you know how impatient he can be."

SYLAR & EMILY

NEW YORK

"Okay, so if we're going to do this, we need to sort out everything you know about your daughter," Sylar uncapped a pen and tapped the tip of it on the pad of paper balancing on his knee.

Emily crossed her legs beneath her as she sat on the floor beside the coffee table in the living room. They had been living in the apartment for ten days—Emily had wasted no time in decorating it to her taste. Sylar had not protested, of course, in any way. Even though her style choices weren't necessarily anything like he would choose for his own living décor, Sylar enjoyed living in a place that was so overwhelmingly Emily.

"I've told you everything I know," Emily reminded him. "More than once."

"Tell me again," he requested. "I want to make sure we don't miss anything."

"I was fifteen," she started again. "I got pregnant in New York, ran off to California where I had the baby, left her at a church, and booked the next flight to London where I've lived ever since."

"And you changed your name?" He clarified.

"Yep," she fingered her long red curls. "And I died my hair."

"Really?"

"I'm brunette naturally," she admitted.

"I'm sure you'd be beautiful with whatever hair color you have, but I have to tell you I love you as a redhead." He reached out a hand to touch her hair, but she stopped him.

"Gabriel, I told you that I wasn't ready for that yet."

"I'm not asking you to sleep with me," Sylar pointed out. "I just..." he sighed. "I miss being close to you. I hate myself for ruining the happiness that we had together."

"Yea, I hate you for that too," she smirked. After a moment, her expression softened. "I don't really hate you Gabriel. I told you that it would just take me some time…" she crawled forward towards the couch where he was sitting. "I still care for you."

"You do?"

"Of course I do," she assured him. "I told you before that everything we had together isn't just going to disappear. My trust for you might be a little damaged, but I still care for you. That won't change overnight."

Sylar just smiled.

"Now, can we get back to finding my daughter?"

"Actually, I think there may be something else we should deal with first," Sylar told her. "I'm not sure how you're going to react though…"

"Is it any worse than the secret you already told me?"

"No," Sylar smiled. "Probably not."

"All right then, let's have it, shall we?" Emily straightened up her posture and stared at him firmly, waiting for him to give her his new secret.

"I know this man…" he started. "Actually, I don't know him, so much as I've heard of him. I know some people that he knows…he's a police officer."

"All right…" she smiled. "What're you getting at?"

"I've never officially met him, but I have run across him a couple times…" he continued prolonging the point he was trying to make. "It could just be a coincidence, but it might be something more…"

"Please stop dragging this out!"

"His last name is Parkman," he told her. "And he's special, like you."

"What are you saying?"

"I don't know," he paused. "I guess I'm saying that I think he could be related to you somehow."

"How? He's definitely not my father, I know that much. My father would never be involved with a position in law enforcement. It's much too moral."

Sylar nodded. "Also the man I am referring to is too young to be your father, unless you've been lying to me about your age."

Emily grinned. "Which I haven't."

"Good, then do you have any brothers or maybe a cousin?"

"Not that I know of…" she answered, but then she reconsidered. "Gabriel, you have to understand that I don't know much of my family. My father was always very secretive about his life before joining the Company. I never knew my mother; she died when I was born. I was raised under constant surveillance of the Company, hardly ever leaving the compound. As far as I know, I could have ten brothers that I know nothing about."

"Right…" Sylar shrugged. "I'm sorry, I don't know why I brought it up. The last name could be a complete coincidence. I didn't mean to just assume…"

Emily stopped him. "I don't blame you. I have to admit, my ears do tend to perk up when I hear any mention of someone with my name. The same way they perk up when I hear a little girl mention they were adopted. I look at every little girl and wonder if they could be mine. Even when I know there's no possibility, I still watch little girls with their mothers and imagine what it would have been like to keep my daughter and to raise her and see her grow up…"

Sylar noticed tears forming in Emily's eyes again. She seemed cry a lot lately.

"We'll find her Emily," he promised her, yet again. "One way or another, we will find her. You will have that chance."

"To raise her?" Emily shook her head. "I want to find her and make sure the Company never got their hands on her, but I don't expect to raise her. I'm sure she's settled in to a family now—she doesn't belong to me. I gave her up."

"Maybe she would still want to know you though."

"I doubt she even knows about me."

"Well, the only way to know is to ask, and to do that we have to find her. So let's get back to this list. Can you remember the name of the church where you left your daughter?"

NIKI, MICAH, MOLLY

NEW YORK

"Mom, we're home!" Micah hollered as he entered the house; he let Molly shut the door behind them.

"Hey kids," Niki greeted them with a smile as she came around the corner from the kitchen. Ever since Molly had told them Sylar was back in the city, Niki and DL had been managing their work hours so the kids would never be home alone. "How was school?"

"Fine," Micah answered quickly and then darted off to his bedroom.

Molly on the other hand, stayed behind to talk. "School was annoying," she sighed.

"Annoying?" Niki asked. "Do you want to tell me about it?"

"Sure, but umm…" Molly's eyes drifted toward the hallway where Micah had just disappeared and Niki understood her hesitation.

"Do you not want him to hear?"

"It's about Gavin," Molly clarified.

"Well, Micah's in his room now so I don't think he'll hear us, but if you want to we could go outside and talk for a minute."

Molly nodded. "Yea, I think that would be better."

Niki smiled at how grown up Molly sounded at that moment, and followed her outside to the front of the apartment where they could sit on the steps without having to worry about Micah overhearing.

"Okay, so you know how I was telling you about Gavin wanting me to be his Valentine?" Molly started talking only once she was certain the door was shut and nobody would overhear them.

Niki nodded as settled herself on the top step; Molly sat one step below her.

"Well, like you said, I didn't really do anything about it. I just didn't want to make a big deal or anything," Molly continued.

"I'm glad," Niki assured her. "So what happened? Did he ask you again?"

"He didn't ask really, but I think he thought we were like boyfriend and girlfriend or something," Molly explained. "He's nice, I guess, but I don't think I like him like that."

"Why do you think he wants to be your boyfriend?"

"He held my hand today during lunch," Molly admitted.

"Oh?" Niki tried not to show her surprise, or her amusement. "What did you do?"

"Well, I held his hand for a little while. It seemed like the right thing to do."

"Well, sweetie, it might have been the nice thing to do, but it's only right if it's what you want," Niki told her.

"I know," Molly sighed. "And that's why I made him stop after a while. It just felt funny, and people were looking at us weird."

Niki had to look away so Molly wouldn't see her grin. "I'm glad you're able to make up your own mind about this Molly. I think it was very mature of you to be honest with yourself and not go along with something that you're not comfortable with."

Molly shrugged. "That's not the only reason I didn't want to hold his hand."

"Oh?"

"I just don't really like him," she explained. "If it was somebody else then maybe I'd feel different about it…"

"Someone else?" Niki pressed. "Like who?"

"Umm…I don't know…just someone else…"

Niki knew Molly was hiding something now. "Sweetie, is there someone else that you do like?"

The girl shook her head a little too quickly.

"Molly, you know you can trust me…"

"It's not that," Molly assured her. "I just don't really think I'm ready to talk about it. I'm not even sure if I like him or not…and I know he doesn't like me…"

"How do you know?"

"We're just friends."

Niki smiled. "You sound so grown up."

Molly returned the smile. "I am."

"Oh are you?" Niki shook her head. "Why are kids always in such a hurry to grow up?"

"I think that's just the way life is," Molly told her matter-of-factly.

Niki laughed. Every day Molly gave her another reason to smile and she loved her for that. Love…Niki had never truly considered how she felt for Molly, but she knew that she really loved Molly as a part of her family.

"I'm going to give you a little advice, sweetheart," Niki cupped the girl's chin in her hand. "Don't rush life. Enjoy every minute of it."

Molly let her cheek rest against Niki's hand. "You're doing it again."

"Doing what?"

"Being all serious and intense."

Niki smiled. "I'm sorry sweetie." She was right. Lately Niki had been letting herself sink into a serious mood a lot. It was hard not to though with the eminent threat of a murderer attacking her family. "Was there anything else you wanted to talk to me about?"

"No, that's all for now. I just wanted to know what you think I should do."

"About Gavin or this other boy that you won't tell me anything about?"

Molly grinned. "Both."

"Well, I think you've got things pretty covered with Gavin. You know that you don't' like him and you're letting him know, right?"

"Right."

"And as far as this other boy goes, I think that you should be patient. Don't give up on him, but don't rush him. Maybe he really does like you and he's just too shy to tell you so."

"Then should I ask him?"

Niki shrugged. She remembered when romance was that simple—a note passed during class asking the important question with two boxes: one for yes and one for no. "If you want to then I say go for it. You'll never know until you ask."

Molly sucked in her breath and let it out slowly. "I don't know…I think I might wait."

"If you're not sure, then maybe it is best to wait," Niki agreed.

"Okay," Molly nodded. "I'll wait."