Disclaimer: I do not own Heroes or the characters. Mature for possible scenes in later chapters.

I want to thank ChamberlinOfMusic for reviewing. It made me want to write more. xD And I want to thank Sarah Rose Serene for the helpful advice. It's a hard habit to break, but I'll try to catch all of the errors. =]

----

"What do you mean he isn't dead," Claire said heatedly, her green eyes turning as hard as emeralds. "I watched his body burn. No, we did." She swept an arm across the room, referring to everyone standing in the room.

Peter stood up from the couch, his eyes narrowing as he took a step towards his mother. "Why do you have to keep all of these secrets?" He asked her, stopping to stand next to Claire, who looked like she was about to pounce on them.

Tilting his head, Peter looked to Matt. "What does he have to do with all of this?" His eyes darted between Noah and Angela. "What else is there that you're not telling us?"

Angela waited, looking to the man with horn rimmed glasses. Noah crossed his arms across his broad chest, looking away. "The floor is yours," he said. She swallowed hard, and then decided to start at the beginning. "Sylar wasn't the first in his family to inherit the hunger. His father, Samson Gray, has the ability. He is much older then Sylar, and has had decades to gather abilities."

"What's your point?" Claire asked, growing impatient. Was this whole family based on a lie? How many more secrets had Angela buried?

"His father has cancer. He is dying." Her eyes went sympathetically to Claire, and the story struck home. Her heart clenched in her chest, and she eased back, away from Angela, Matt, and Noah. "So his father has the hunger? And he has cancer?" She looked to Angela, seeing as Noah was trying to stay out of it. Angela nodded in response. "What else is there?"

"He's coming after you Claire." Her dark eyes connected with the green eyes across the room. "2 years ago when Sylar found his father, he told him that he got his ability from a cheerleader in Texas. Somehow, he has traced that back to you." She paused, looking to Noah and Matt. "We don't have much time until he finds you. You either need to go into hiding—"

"No!" Claire exclaimed, her saddened eyes turning to her father. "I can't do that. Lyle needs—" Noah came towards her, wrapping his arms around her, trying to console her. "Let her finish…" Claire looked up at him, her eyes wide. She closed her mouth, closing her eyes and nodded.

"Or we can have Sylar dispose of him." Peter tried to remain quiet, but he whirled on his mother. "He's dead. Do you suggest we bring him back to life? You know somebody with that ability?"

"He's not dead." She said, her eyes as hard as stone. Now, she crossed the room to take a seat. She took a deep breath, her usual hard exterior crumbled before them all, and Claire's heart reached out to her. "2 years ago, when Nathan and Sylar fought, Nathan was killed." Noah's arms tightened around Claire as she started to argue with Angela. "Nathan had gotten us into all of the mess; it was him who needed to get us out. There was another body, the person who Sylar took the shape shifting ability from, his body was the body you witnessed burning."

"Then…" Peter coaxed her forward. Angela's eyes were glassy, she looked up at them to finish her story, but Matt interceded.

"I got inside the real Sylar's mind and convinced him that he was Nathan. His powers have been dormant for the past 2 years, but now we need his help. We need to bring Sylar back, give him his memories back, and ask him for his help."

Claire's head spun and she was grateful for her father's steady arms. The room around her blurred as she fought to absorb all of this information. Sylar is alive. Nathan is dead. And they convinced Sylar he was Nathan in order to fix all of the unsettled problems Nathan had caused.

"What makes you think he's going to help us?" Peter asked, tilting his head to the side. "He was never on our side before."

Noah smirked, looking down at Claire before stepping away from her. "Cause we have a common interest. Sylar left his father to die slowly from his cancer. If he's coming after Claire, then Sylar will make sure that his father dies. He doesn't think Samson deserves eternity. He was going to make sure his death was drawn out, but if his father is going to try to stop his cancer, Sylar will be sure to deliver him death."

"And if he doesn't?" Claire asked quietly, wrapping her arms around herself. "What happens when he does defeat his father? We're back to playing cat and mouse with Sylar?"

"We have to choose the lesser of two evils." Peter answered her, understanding where they were coming from. He didn't like it, but at least he could understand.

"I hope you guys know what you're doing," Peter said, looking directly at his mother.

Just then, Nathan walked into the room. He noticed the looks on everyone's faces. "What's going on?" His eyes found his mother, sitting on the couch by herself. "Ma?" He asked, crossing the room to sit next to her.

"We've been lying to you, and I'm sorry for that." Angela grabbed Nathan's hands, holding them between her own. She was staring deep into his eyes, hoping she'd remember the passion in those eyes for the rest of her life. It would be the last time she'd ever see her son again. "I hope someday you can come to forgive us, all of us, for the things we have done to you." Her eyes went to Noah, and then she held Nathan's gaze.

"I hope that someday you will understand why we made this decision. But now… we all have a chance for redemption. We can move forward, together." She lifted a hand to touch her son's cheek gently, then let go of him. She nodded to Matt, and Nathan looked widely at him. "What're you talking about?"

Angela slipped a hand into her pocket, drawing something out. Matt bent towards Nathan, tilting his head to the side a bit as he got in his head. "No…" Nathan groaned, snapping his eyes shut, pressing his hands to his ears. "This isn't true!" Tears threatened to escape over the brim of Angela's eyes. Peter stood protectively in front of Claire, who had backed against the wall. Noah had drawn out his gun; it was cocked and ready to go.

"You are Sylar." Matt said.

Nathan's face began to shift, morphing into the face that still haunted her dreams. Claire tried to lean past Peter, trying to get a good look. Out of all the people there, she was the one being protected. She couldn't die, and Peter was standing in front of her? She stepped to the side as the transformation finished.

Angela slipped the watch she was holding in her hand into Sylar's hand, but she didn't move away from him on the couch. Memories of his past flooded back to him. He sprung to his feet from the couch, his dark eyes hooded.

"I am Sylar."