Becca2396 -
Good question. I've addressed it a little in this chapter. The more the
story progresses the more we'll find out about her ability and how
she handles it.
Thank you so much!

Marchenplushie28 -
Thank you for that. I was a little worried about her place in it but
it's encouraging to know she's finding her spot in it.
Thanks for your review, hun. =D

Disclaimer -
You guessed it. I don't down anything but Kellyn. Sad, right?

it's between you and me

chapter five

It had been a mostly quiet ride from Virginia Beach, Virginia to Bozeman, Montana. While Sylar and Mohinder spoke about abilities and the people he'd contacted so far, Kellyn had dozed off and listened to the iPod that had once belonged to the real Zane Taylor. Every once in a while he would catch Sylar's gaze in the side view mirror. He looked amused and confident and she just returned it with a smile.

Kellyn couldn't help but let out a sigh when they finally pulled up in front of garage where it was said they could find a woman, Dale Smither; she was the first of many on the list of people they were supposed to go see. They climbed out of the car in silence and as they met at the entrance of the garage Sylar looked to Mohinder with a smile.

"Before we go in, I just wanted to say thanks," he said. Kellyn looked at him with an eyebrow drawn up in confusion, though she did smile to show her agreement.

"For what?" Mohinder asked seeming to be just as confused as Kellyn was.

"Well, you know, for bringing us with you. You didn't have to do that."

Mohinder laughed and smiled, nodding. "It would have been a long road alone. I'm glad for the company."

"Well, I believe in fate, Mohinder, and karma, and I'm not just saying that because you're Indian. I mean, you really came to our rescue, and we won't forget that," he explained as he took Kellyn's hand. The woman, for her part, smiled and nodded. Whatever Sylar said.

"It's not completely altruistic on my part, Zane," Mohinder replied as he clapped the man companionably on the shoulder. "I have a feeling we're going to meet up with a lot of skepticism from these people. You two can help."

The three of them walked into the garage, Sylar letting go of Kellyn's hand as they looked around. By this time Kellyn had grown used to the random acts of public display of the affection that came with being in a pretend relationship. At first Sylar's touch had weirded the other woman out thought that was only because she wasn't use to that type of affection; now she was used to and dare she say, kind of liked it.

"Well, we're ready." She finally said as they stopped a few feet from a person who appeared to be welding on a nearby table.

"Excuse me!" Mohinder called out. Once they noticed the person couldn't hear them properly they moved in closer and Mohinder tried once more. "Excuse me!" he called out louder.

Finally, the bright flame was extinguished and the person lifted up the safety mask - the trio was surprised to find a woman hiding behind it. It was even more curious because there was rap music streaming loudly from the ear buds in her ears. After looking them over the woman smiled as she turned to face them.

"Oh," she said as she pulled the ear phones from her ears. "Rap music. Can't stand it, but it's the only thing I've found that cancels out the-," she cut herself off and cleared her throat. "Can I help you?"

"We're looking for Dale Smither," Mohinder said with a smile. Something told him they'd found who they were searching for but there was no harm in making sure.

"You found her," the welder confirmed.

Mohinder nodded though he still seemed a little shocked. "Oh, of course. Right. I'm Mohinder Suresh and this is Mr. Taylor, and Ms. Kellyn," he said as he looked at each respectively.

Kellyn smiled as she stepped forward. "It's just Kellyn and Zane though, if you please." There was no reason to be Mr and Ms because that made it all too formal for the woman.

The woman before them didn't seem to be all that impressed by their intrusion. She turned from them and walked back toward her desk, taking off her heavy gloves as she went.

"I left you several messages this week," Mohinder threw out, disrupting the silence.

"Yeah, I got 'em," Dale answered as she turned back to look at the three younger people. The gloves were still in her hand as if she was debating ignoring the strangers and getting back to her work.

Mohinder should have been used to the way people brushed him off but it still irked him. Couldn't they see he only wanted to help them? If they didn't want the help that was fine but couldn't they at least hear him out? "I believe I can help with what's happening to you. I'm sure you have lots of questions," he tried.

"Yeah, only one. How did you find me?" The woman asked as she finally tossed her gloves onto her desk.

"You gave blood eleven months ago," Mohinder began,well prepared. "Signed a consent form to have a sample used in a program called the Human Genome Project."

The woman remained silent for a moment after Mohinder had finished talking before shaking her head. She didn't need this from anyone, least of all a few strangers who came asking questions. If this was about what she could do, they wouldn't take it away from her; not when she'd just gotten the hang of it. "You dialed the wrong number," she informed them easily.

When Sylar noticed they weren't getting anywhere with Mohinder's tactic he stepped up. Wringing his hands the man looked to Kellyn to back him up if need be. "Look, I know what you're thinking right now, that you've got nobody to talk to, nobody understands what you're going through. But that's not true. We," at this point he motioned to Kellyn and himself before continuing. "we understand."

Dale couldn't help but admit her interest had been peeked at this. "Yeah?" she asked, albeit a little cautiously.

Sylar looked back at Mohinder who only nodded once he realized what it was the man wanted to do. The brown eyed man grabbed at a nearly empty jar, tipping it over so the random nuts and screws fell onto the work table. He eyed the table for a moment before grabbing a nearby wrench and setting it inside of the jar. With a hand poised over it he concentrated. Within a few seconds the wrench was melting and conforming as liquid to the jar. He looked at Dale and smiled.

"Damn," was all that Dale said at first before shaking her head. "That was my best wrench. So there really are others, huh?" The woman looked at Kellyn with a curious expression. "What can you do?" she asked.

Kellyn grinned as she looked at the metal siding, a hand raised. Streams of electricity settled on her fingertips and she mentally spread them out so they barely touched the metal. Dark spots settled on the siding as the electricity left a mark. "We're proof of the others out there." She said as she looked down at the small ball of blue electricity sitting in the palm of her hand.

"That's why we're here," Mohinder said as he stepped up to join Kellyn and Sylar.

The woman before them eyed each one of them for a moment before sitting down on the edge of her desk with a defeated sigh. "I thought the headaches were gonna kill me. I'd lie away at night thinking that my head was gonna explode. A cockroach crawling across my neighbor's floor was like a marching band parading through my house," she explained.

Mohinder nodded at this before offering a sympathetic smile, "I'm sorry. It must be a burden."

The woman perked up al little this and chuckled. "You think it's a burden?" She shook her head as she looked at Mohinder and Kellyn. "Hell, no. This is the best damn thing that ever happened to me." She stopped for a minute to rest the iPod in her hands on the desk behind her. "Well, now that I've learned to control it, I'm like Superman or something. I can hear rain coming from forty miles away. I can even here someone's moods – the tiniest changes in a heartbeat." At this she turned to look at Sylar, an eyebrow raised. "Yours for instance. It's racing kind of fast," she said to him. "You nervous about something."

Kellyn jumped in at this, distracting Dale from Sylar and whatever it was that was going on with him. "We're just excited about meeting someone else like us," she pointed out. Sylar glanced at her before nodding his head.

"Well, if you've come to try and take it away from me, you're gonna have a hell of a fight on your hands," Dale informed them. And from the serious expression her face the three could tell this was very true.

Mohinder shook his head and offered a placating smile. "I can assure that the three of us only want to help. I'd like to perform a few tests, some questions, really, that's all. Shouldn't take more than a couple of hours."

The woman seemed to think this over before shaking her head no. "I'm kind of backed up today to be honest with you."

"We can come back in the morning," Mohinder suggested.

Once more Dale seemed to think about this before giving a nod, "Yeah, alright."

Popping the trunk of the car, Mohinder allowed Sylar and Kellyn to remove their bags before taking out his own. He closed the trunk and turned to face them. "You know, when you two first offered to help I was cautious."

Sylar looked surprised at this, "In what way?"

"I don't know you. You don't know me. It could have been a disaster," he started with the shrug of his shoulders. There really was no easy way to deal with what they had to deal with but the way both Sylar and Kellyn had handled themselves had been impressive. "You two made a difference today. Thank you." He offered the room key to Sylar and Kellyn's room to the man before him before heading toward his own room.

"When you told that woman Dale that you could help her, is that really possible?" Sylar asked, stopping the other man in his tracks.

Kellyn took the key out of Sylar's hand and made her way to the room they would be sharing. There was really no reason she needed to be there, plus every word they said was like a crack of thunder inside of her head. Being able to mimic other people's abilities had never been this painful before. With Zane's ability she'd easily been able to shove it down but with Dales? It was taking much longer than usual to tone it down. Deciding to take advantage of the alone time she'd have while Sylar spoke to Mohinder she went into their room in order to try and manage it.

Mohinder watched as Kellyn disappeared into the room beside his before turning to face Zane. "It's only theoretical at this point. But I am working on an inhibitor, a chemical that'll isolate the genetic mutation that causes these abnormalities. We can offer these people understanding, control, or, if needed, elimination of their ability." The man was indeed very hopeful for this and wanted to do everything he could to help the ones that did or did not want to keep their abilities. Though there was a small part of him that hoped to find something that might give others abilities as well.

Sylar bristled slightly at the last bit of information Mohinder had given him. "Elimination. You make it sound like a virus or plague," he said, sounding the slightest bit offended. Why would anyone want to get rid of something like this? It was gift and should be treated as such.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to imply – It's just that not all of you exhibit the same sets of skills that you and Kellyn do. They can be dangerous. My father had to learn that firsthand," he explained.

"How's that?" Sylar asked though he already knew the answer to that.

Mohinder raised a hand to rub at the back of his neck before continuing, "He was murdered by a man named Sylar."

The man seemed to stare off for a moment as he remembered that exact night and everything that had happened. It had been one of his first kills and while he did feel a bit sorry for it he wasn't really. "Well, what happened to this… Sylar?"

"I'm not sure."

"He got away with killing your dad?"

Mohinder shrugged at this. "I only know he's gone, locked away. What does it matter? Even if I could come face-to-face with him, what difference would it make? Justice can never really be served."

If only Mohinder knew that the person he was talking about was standing right in front of him, playing him for a fool. He readjusted the bag on his shoulder before looking serious once more, "What a shame. They're out there. I can feel them, so innocent, so unaware of what's happening to them. We'll find them, Mohinder. All of them, together. You, me, and Kellyn. It's our destiny." Sylar turned toward his room before telling him he was going to call it a night. "I'll catch you in the morning."

Kellyn looked up as the door to the motel room opened and Sylar stepped raised an eyebrow was he noticed Zane's iPod was settled on her stomach, earphones in her ears and the volume turned almost as loud as it could go. She removed one of the ear buds at his puzzled expression.

"I got Dale's ability and it's annoying as hell. She was right, rap music is the only thing that can drown everything out." She explained as she turned the iPod off altogether. Kellyn had gotten a little better with Dale's ability. Everything still sounded so ridiculously loud but she was able to turn the volume down a few notches.

Sylar nodded as he tossed his bag onto one of the chairs nearby. "He's working on something to control these abilities, something to possibly get rid of them as well." He explained as he sat down on the edge of the bed they would have to share. When Mohinder had gotten the rooms for himself and Kellyn and Sylar he'd only done what everyone else would have, assumed they slept together. "Then he went on to explain to me how someone named Sylar had killed his father."

"I bet you were amused he had no idea you were the one they call Sylar." Kellyn tossed the iPod onto the nightstand before getting off of the bed, heading to the bathroom. She stopped and grabbed her toothbrush out of her bag before closing the bathroom door slightly.

Sylar only grinned at this before telling Kellyn about the plan he had for tonight. "I have to get Dale's ability. You're going to stay here so I have an alibi. I doubt Suresh would think it was me anyway but this is just be safe."

Hooking the door with her foot, Kellyn opened it a little wider. Giving a nod she bent down to spit into the sink before rinsing her mouth out with water. "Yeah, alright," she agreed. Closing the bathroom door she walked back to the bed and settled in on her side of it, getting under the covers. Sylar laid by her side on top of the covers. "How does it work?" she asked as she rolled over to face him. " I know with my ability I just have to be near someone to gain their ability. How do you obtain them?"

Sylar looked at the woman thoughtfully for a moment. "I just pick around in their brains. See how the abilities work that way and then just apply it to myself." It might have sound a little odd or complicated to the woman beside him but he honestly didn't care. Sylar had a need to find out things worked and found that it was to blame when it came to his murderous ways. He wanted to know how Dale's ability worked, how Zane's ability worked and if he had to murder them in order to find then so be it. When it came to Kellyn he found he had a little more control over his curiosity. There ware time when he did want to find out how her ability of mimicry worked but found that he was able to stave off that hunger. "You should go to sleep. I'll be leaving shortly."

It was two hours later that Sylar was sliding out of bed and grabbing his Converse. Putting them on his feet and lacing them up he headed for the door. This shouldn't take too long he didn't think. He glanced over his shoulder at the sleeping woman before opening the door and leaving her behind. The walk to the garage where Dale Smither worked was a short one and he found himself there before he realized it. He could hear sounds coming from the garage and was thankful she was there rather than somewhere else.

He watched from the shadows as Dale slid from under the car and pulled her earplug out, looking around and listening. She climbed to her feet to further inspect the sound and this is when he moved out of the darkness and stood just a few feet from her.

"Funny. I didn't hear your footsteps," she commented as she watched him suspiciously.

Sylar smirked at this, "That's because there weren't any."

The woman tilted her head to the side as she listened to his heartbeat. There was something different about it, something she didn't recognize. "That sound. In your heart. What is it?"

He listened to his heart for minute, not hearing the same differences in it that Dale did. That would be something to note once he'd acquired her ability. Though he couldn't hear what she heard he knew exactly what it was. "Murder."

Kellyn had woken up a soon a Sylar had returned though neither of them said a word to each other as he locked himself in the bathroom and Kellyn drifted off to sleep once more. Though she had woken up with a start hours later as Sylar put a hand on her shoulder and shook her gently, signaling that it was time for them to go.

"I'm guessing you got it?" she asked in a whisper as they waited for Mohinder to emerge from his room.

Sylar only nodded as the man in question came out of his room. They'd piled into the Nissan and driven to Dale's garage with a few winces from both Sylar and Kellyn which, thankfully, went unnoticed by Mohinder.

As they pulled in front of the garage Sylar couldn't keep silent anymore and let out an 'ow' as rap music played from inside of the garage; though only Sylar and Kellyn were able to hear this.

"Zane, are you alright?" Mohinder asked.

Sylar gave a nod, "Yeah, it's just a headache."

The other man gave nod before putting the car into park and unbuckling his seatbelt. "Okay. You two sit tight. I'll be back."

Both Kellyn and Sylar gave a nod. "Ow," they exclaimed in time as Mohinder slammed the car door. This sucked so much. They could both hear Mohinder calling out for Dale and it was grating on their nerves as well as their heads. Finally, Sylar rolled down the window. "Hey, maybe we should just come back, Mohinder."

Apparently that wasn't going to happen as Mohinder came out of the garage and scrambled to get back to the garage, throwing up as he leaned against it. Sylar and Kellyn exchanged a look before climbing out of the car.

"Mohinder, what's wrong?" Kellyn asked as she went to the man's side.

Sylar, in order to keep up the charade, walked into the garage only instead of becoming sick he smirked before walking back out. He attempted to act just as disgusted as Mohinder had as he looked at Kellyn. "She's dead."

Kellyn's eyes went wide at this and she frowned before looking a bit pained as she looked at Mohinder. He was dialing a number on his cell phone and the sound was much louder than it should have been. "What are you doing?" she questioned.

Mohinder looked at Kellyn as if she should know exactly what he was doing, "Dialing 911."

"Do you think that's a good idea?" Sylar interjected. It was a horrible idea, in his opinion. It would only succeed in getting both he and Kellyn caught.

He looked confused at this question and lowered his phone, "What are you talking about? She was murdered." The natural course for this, Mohinder believed, was to call the police and report the crime.

Sylar nodded, "And what were we doing here?"

Still, Mohinder didn't understand why calling the police wouldn't bode well for them. "What do you mean? We found her."

Kellyn wanted to roll her eyes at this. Didn't he understand. "How? Why? I mean, look at us. Where did we come from? How did we get here? Can we explain any of this without looking completely insane?" she asked. The question was a resounding, no. Any way they tried to explain this would only cause them more trouble and that was not something she or Sylar needed.

"The top of her head was removed. It was Sylar. I mean, how?" Mohinder leaned against the car. How had this happened to him? He'd only been hoping to help and he'd somehow managed to get Dale murdered.

"Sylar." Sylar looked around for a moment as if he was, in fact, looking for said man. Of course he didn't have to look too far now did he?

Mohinder took a moment to gather himself together before deciding on the next course of action. "We have to warn them. Everyone on the list. He's after them. We'll leave now and call the police anonymously from the road. Come on." He walked to the other side of the car but quickly noticed that something was wrong with Zane. "Zane, are you okay?"

He could hear the blood dripping from Dale's lifeless hand and onto the ground below here. Every drop sounded like a bomb going off and he doubled over in pain. Kellyn put a hand on his shoulder and he turned to look at her. He hated how this wasn't affecting her near as bad as it was affecting him. Placing a hand on top of her he straightened out and gave Mohinder a weak smile. "I'll be fine," he said, reassuring both man and woman.

( post blue – placebo )