She hated him. The feelings he inspired in her were nothing but darkness. She loathed him, despised him. Everything he was disgusted her. It had been 2 days since the incident, and every night she dreamt of him. Of him touching her, or of her killing him. What were those dreams supposed to mean? She didn't understand any of it, but if there was one thing she did know...

Claire Bennett hated Sylar.

That would never change.

She'd been staying out of the house as much as she could since that night. Finding any excuse to leave, and not come back until the late hours of the night, just before the peak of dawn. Then she'd sleep all morning, and by noon she'd be up and gone. Today her living room furniture would arrive. Finally, after two days of searching, she had found the perfect living room set.

A familiar ring sang through the air, and Claire reached for her phone. It was the delivery men confirming their drop off time. Claire slid the phone shut, and rested against the countertop. She tried to block out images of what had happen in here a few days ago, she let her thoughts wander elsewhere. It was a bright day outside, the kind of day children enjoyed running around in. Claire opened the windows, letting a breeze glide in to lift some of the tension from the air.

Today she was adorned in tight black jeans and a cranberry colored top that hung off her shoulders and dipped low to expose her fleshy cleavage. Her hair was carefully waved, an hour curling it in the bathroom had given it the lift she wanted. She looked more sophisticated today, and she tried for great measures to appear that way. When she filled out the paper work for the furniture, they sales lady had given her a look that clearly read 'Are you even legal yet?'.

There was a knock at the door, and Claire left the window to open the door. To her surprise, Peter was waiting patiently outside. He had on a dark wind breaker, a light jacket that would keep the cool breeze from tormenting his skin too much, and a pair of dark jeans. His hair had grown unruly, and she could see the shadow of hair beginning to grow from where he hadn't shaved. Claire's heart ached, and she realized this was just the distraction she needed. Peter could save her from her dark thoughts, he always did.

"Hey." He smiled slightly, but it didn't quite reach his eyes the way it used too. He looked exhausted, the color was drained from his face and under his eyes drooped, just a bit.

"Hey, come in." Claire moved to the side, and Peter stepped through.

Taking a moment to look around, he turned back to look back at Claire as she shut the door. "Wow. Fancy, but empty. Sort of like mine." He aimed for a joke, but it only made him seem more lonely. And it made her feel like she was beginning to be a loner too. What had happened to them? Claire shrugged, walking over to the counter. She lifted herself up to sit on the cool surface, and patted the spot next to her. Peter hesitated, but he was sitting beside her a few seconds later.

"I've got a couch and loveseat coming in a bit. You're right on time, you'll be the first to see my living room partially finished."

"Partially?" He asked, his eyes wandering to the empty floor in the living area.

"Just cause you're satisfied with a couch, doesn't mean the rest of the world is. Some people decorate when they move into their own space." She tossed that at him, then slyly gave him a teasing smirk.

He gave a short laugh, it sounded somewhere between a cough and a laugh, like he hadn't done it in days. "I didn't think you were that serious about this place, especially since he's around." He emphasized when he spoke about Sylar, and Claire let her eyes travel up to meet his darkened ones.

"I can't stay in one place mad forever and shaking my fist at what fate's given me. I've got to keep moving."

"You don't think the past is gonna catch up to you someday, Claire?"

She wasn't ready for that one. Letting her hands drop in her lap, she stared at the tile. A few days before, it was layered with her blood. She could clean it up, get rid of all traces of it, but would it ever really be gone? Could she ever really get rid of it? Looking back up at Peter, she shrugged lightly.

"I don't know. But at least now, at this very moment, I'm not letting it haunt me. I'm taking it a day at a time."

His brows rose with surprise, and he turned away so she wouldn't see the shock register on his face. "Well, now there's something. You're giving me a life lesson." Peter smiled, thinking of how much she's grown up. She wasn't the same Claire Bennett she was 2 years ago, but somehow, it still felt the same. No matter what happened, it always felt the same with her. He always felt the need to protect her, he always wanted to be there for her.

So where was he now?

"I'm sorry..." He whispered, his voice barely audible. Claire had hardly caught it, but she turned to him, her green eyes full of question. "Peter... What..." She started, but she didn't finish. The look in his eyes made her pause, it struck the cord of her heart hard. He looked so sad, so miserable. Was he ashamed?

"I should be the one here, protecting you from that monster." Which monster, she wondered.

"But instead, you've got another beast protecting you from a greater monster. And who's to say he won't be more of a problem then Samson is?" Peter asked, still avoiding her knowing eyes. She could so easily read him it seemed. "I can't protect you like I could before."

"Peter, you don't need to always be the one saving me. Sometimes, I can save myself." She slid off the counter to stand in front of him, to capture his gaze so he couldn't look away from her. "Who knows, maybe I can even help you. I want to.. You know that, right?" She asked, gazing up at him. "It's not healthy for you to work all those hours. You don't look like you get an ounce of sleep..." Mumbling softly, she pressed her fingers softly against his cheek to turn his face towards her.

"You want to talk about it?"

Her voice was hardly a whisper, but he shook his head in answer. "No, not now. Not today." Claire bit her lip, resigning herself from pushing him further. Nodding, she took a step back. "Okay." Her eyes drifted away, to the window that carried a gentle reminder that it was still daylight. "You wanna go out to get something to eat later? Oh, hey." She smiled, the worry in her face seeming to wash away. "There's a carnival in town next week, why don't we go?"

The thought of being alone with Claire scared him for a moment. She'd question him more, and he couldn't give her the answers just yet. He wasn't even sure what the answers were, but now that he had a different life, he was seeing Claire in a different way. The thought frightened him, he wanted her to be his niece. He wanted to protect her. Now that his title had changed, did his feelings towards her change? Or were they always there, hibernating beneath the surface. It frightened him to think that maybe she wasn't safe from him, that maybe she needed to he protected from him.

"I can get some of my friends to go, and maybe Lyle will go. He's been cooped up too much too," she added as an after thought, and his fear vanished for the time being. Nodding, he agreed finally. "Yeah, sounds good." A knock reverberated through the apartment, and the sound of it brought Peter and Claire back to the real world. She went for the door, this time it was the delivery men.