What is Lost

Part 2

Recap:

Gabriel awoke to the sun's rays hitting him square in the face. He groaned and rolled over to see the clock. It was almost eight. He still had two more hours until he had to leave.

Turning his head to the window, Gabriel saw the sun shining through the clouds. He smiled. The sun made last night seem like nothing happened at all.

"Dawn." he whispered. Even though it was far past dawn, the word held meaning for him. No matter how dark the night, dawn will be right around the corner, ready to brighten even the darkest of skies. Casting away the shadows.

That's how Gabriel felt anyway.

Chapter 2: There's Always a Dawn

Gabriel stood in the shower letting the hot water run over him. He knew he was in there twenty minutes longer than he should have, but it felt so good. The nightmares were getting worse and worse. Maybe Peter could go into his mind and find out what was going on. Maybe.

Shutting off the water, Gabriel stepped out of the tub and onto a towel. He dried himself off and dressed. Then a few minutes later he emerged from the bathroom, still running the towel through is hair to get it as dry as possible. When he entered the kitchen, he stopped. The hair on the back of his neck rose on end. Gabriel felt like he was being watched, which was weird since the door was locked and he would have heard someone enter. Super hearing had many advantages.

He listened for a moment, after he didn't hear anything he carried on with what he was doing. Throwing the damp towel on the counter, Gabriel looked for something to eat. After all, Peter said to meet at noon, and it was 7:30 AM, waiting for noon was not an option. After finding a box of cereal he sat down and read the paper. Nothing really exciting.

Around 11:30 AM, Gabriel walked out the door to meet his friends. As he was walking down the streets, he felt that someone was watching him, again. He looked around, but there were many people walking around at this time. Shrugging, he continued on his way.

"Hey Peter." he greeted ten minutes later. "Claire."

Peter and Claire already had a table and were sitting down. He sat down and a waitress brought him a menu. He thanked her.

"So what do you want to do today?" Peter asked.

Gabriel scanned the menu, then answered. "I don't know."

"How about get a job?" Claire teased.

Peter chuckled.

"What?" Gabriel challenged.

"Well what can you do besides fixing watches?"

Crossing his arms, Gabriel replied. "Lots."

"Like?"

Gabriel was spared from answering by the waitress. She walked up to the table and pulled out a pad and pen. "Hello, can I take your orders?"

The three smiled and told her what they wanted. After she wrote it all down, she grabbed the menus and departed. Peter smirked. "So what are you good at?"

"Everything. Remember? My ability allows me to grasp almost anything with ease." he somewhat gloated. "So I can get any job."

"I wish I had your ability on my Algebra II test a few days ago." she grumbled.

Their food came about ten minutes later, Peter and Gabriel were duking it out in a game of Tic-Tac-Toe. Peter was losing, which was weird since it was really hard to lose at that game. It wasn't that complicated. Claire smiled when her uncle chucked a pencil across the room, effectively hitting someone in the head.

"Sorry." he called. The man he hit glared at him and turned back to his food. The empath smiled sheepishly, Gabriel snickered.

The waitress set each plate in front of the respectable owner, she asked if they needed anything else, and Claire shook her head and said everything was fine. The girl smiled and walked away.

The three ate and then paid for the food. Gabriel left the tip, even though Peter said it was on him. The bell on the door sounded as the exited the restaurant. "Have a good day." Someone called behind them.

"Oh," Peter said. "Nathan's kinda having a dinner thing or whatever he calls it tomorrow. I was told to invite you."

Gabriel stared at him. "Well, that's sudden."

Peter smirked. "C'mon, I know you don't have anything going to tomorrow."

The watchmaker conceded. "Fine. I'll come."

The two saw Claire up ahead staring into a store. Peter came up behind her. "Claire do you really want to go shopping today?"

"Yes."

He sighed and turned to the other man. "Do you mind if she-?"

"No, not at all."

Claire smiled.

By the time Claire was done shopping, Peter didn't think their were anymore stores left in New York. They collapsed on a park bench and tried to catch their breath.

"Man," Gabriel sighed. "That was-"

"Boring?" Peter interjected.

"Well I was going to say exciting, just to humor her, but yours works too."

Claire glared at them. "Oh come on, it wasn't that bad."

The two men looked at her. "Yeah it really was." they said in unison. Claire rolled her eyes.

"What are you going to do when you get married?"

Peter smirked. "Never go shopping."

"Men." she grumbled.

"Well," Gabriel said, checking his watch. "It's getting late. I'd better go."

"Why?" Claire asked.

Gabriel stood up. "Football game." he said simply.

Uncle and niece erupted in a fit of laughter. Gabriel frowned at them. "What?" he growled. "I can't like football?"

"No, no." Claire sobbed. Her sides hurt from laughing too much. Peter wiped tears from his eyes. "We just never pegged you for the football type."

Gabriel crossed his arms, and turned heel and walked off.

Peter called after him. "Dinner's around five!"

Gabriel raised a hand to show he heard.

The next day, Gabriel stepped onto the Petrelli's front porch. Feeling slightly out of place, he rang the doorbell. A few seconds later the door flew open, and Claire greeted him. "Hey, right on time." she smiled.

Gabriel walked in.

There was a bunch of people here. He could see Matt, Mohinder, Molly, Noah, DL, Micah, Nikki, Hiro and Ando all gathered in the living room talking. He removed his shoes and walked in.

"You made it." Peter said as he came down the stairs. "Dinner'll be another ten minutes or so. Nathan dropped something or other in the kitchen."

Ten minutes later, just as Peter had said, dinner was ready. All the guests had filed into the dinning room, and took a seat. Gabriel was on Peter's left and Hiro's right. He and Hiro had really bonded, the Japanese man never ceased to amuse him. Ando on the other hand, had a much harder time accepting him.

After they prayed, the food was served.

Gabriel watched all the people talk, laugh and have a good time. He smiled, things had turned out for the better after all that has happened. Thinking of what could have been, if he had still been Sylar... Was that him he sensed yesterday? Shaking the thought from his mind, he tried to think positively. Everything happens for a reason, not by accident. He was meant to have this life, these friends, everything. This was a gift, and he wasn't going to waste it. He could feel all his fears slipping away, there would be no more nightmares at night, he could almost imagine sleeping soundly for a change.

"Hey," Peter waved his hand in front of the other man's face. "you ok?"

Gabriel smiled. "Yeah, I think I am."

End

There. Done. Finished.

I said this was going to be a couple chapters long, two is a couple right?

The latest episodes kinda demolished the path I was going to take with this story, so I decided to end it. Plus this year of High School is killing me. Junior year sucks!! Especially when you take 2 AP (advanced placement) classes. What was I thinking??

Note: I orignally said part 2 was going to be 2 years later, well I lied. . It's only 2 months, after I thought about it 2 years was a long time. And I apologize if Peter, Gabriel and Claire seem a little OCC, I was trying to lighten the mood from last chapter.

Also I would like to thank Shakespear's Lemonade for sticking with me and offering advice. Your awesome! And Cat 2, and everyone who watched and faved this story. You guys are the best,

And Sylar1223 and FireChildSlytherin5 for motivating me to update. :)

Well good-bye and have fun studying for school, I know I will. (sarcasm)

Drop one last review and see ya.