(no subject)
Title: Define Dangerous
Characters: Sylar, Claire.
Spoilers: Up to Season 2.
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2801
Chapter: 27/?
Previously: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14, Chapter 15, Chapter 16, Chapter 17, Chapter 18, Chapter 19, Chapter 20, Chapter 21, Chapter 22, Chapter 23, Chapter 24, Chapter 25, Chapter 26
Summary: While escaping the Company, Sylar meets up with someone from his past. Together, they must piece together some semblance of normality after years of captivity. Future AU.
“Admit it,” Claire shone the flashlight down the hallway and then back up to Sylar's face. No one was following them anymore and the company now seemed devoid of all life. Maybe the fight that broke out scared the rest of them off. Unfortunately, the fight also left them lost after running from hallway to hallway, corridor to corridor. She was certain they were now walking in circles. “You don't know where we are. We're lost.”
“I know where we are, Claire.” Sylar pushed the flashlight back down, out of his eyes. He appeared to be listening for any clue that might help him find the exit out of this maze. She was pretty certain that he was lying and when he spoke again her worries were confirmed. “We made a right, then two lefts-- or maybe it was three lefts, it was pretty dark.. I'm not sure where we were running exactly.”
“We could always ask for directions.. you know, if everyone we met wasn't trying to kill us.” Claire felt a smile tugging at her lips, despite herself and they'd just lived through only a little while earlier. Both the fight and finding out about Sylar's past should have put her in a foul mood, yet being by his side reluctantly made her happy. It also left her very confused.
“They don't all want to kill us.” Sylar joked as he ushered her closer to the map on the wall. “Some just want to capture us and perform all sort of inhuman tests on us. They have a good variety of crazy here.”
She bit her lip, daring to return to a previous conversation while holding the flashlight on the map as steadily as she could. “Sylar? What were you going to say before? You know, when we were trapped between that flame thrower and those guards?”
“I-- um.. this way.” Sylar grabbed her arm, turned around and started back the way they came. He was evading the question, which wasn't like him. He wasn't one to get flustered so easily.
She followed, not sure they were going in the right direction but figured she might as well humor him. Especially since she didn't know the way out either. “But really, you can tell me.. can't you? I mean what could you be keeping from me that's so horrible?”
“Look, Claire. I..” He stopped and faced her, which was exactly when he started to grow nervous and lose the power of speech again. Running a hand over her shoulders, he searched for words to express whatever the hell he couldn't bring himself to repeat.
Whatever it was that he was keeping from her, she wished he would just say it already. Maybe that would kill the anticipation that caused her stomach to flip flop inside of her. A pained scream cut through the pregnant pause and Sylar sighed in relief as Claire's attention was brought back to more serious matters.
Claire shot her head up, instantly recognizing the voice. “Peter!”
“Oh, thank god.” Sylar muttered, more happy for the interruption than for locating the other man. He grabbed Claire's hand and took off running. Their feet pounded the floor, rushing towards Claire's uncle and whatever danger he'd gotten himself into.
They weren't that far away, after a few quick turns they came to a large, open room surrounded by a second story balcony that ran along the inside of the room. In the center of the room, Peter was scrambling to his feet after what looked like the aftermath of a fight between him and Elle. He was burnt to a crisp but was healing, slowly though since he was still not used to calling on the power he absorbed from Claire.
Claire forgot all about their fight and the fact that Peter didn't want her anywhere near her, she just ran to him and helped him to his feet. “Are you okay?”
“Claire, you shouldn't be here.” Peter groaned as she wrapped one of his arms around her neck, holding his shaking body up. He was badly wounded from the fight, barely able to stand up without her help and she refused to listen to his pleas for her to leave. He was her family; there was no way she was going to abandon him there to fend for himself. Even if he would have done that to her only a day ago.
“Claire?” Sylar called out tentatively. She ignored him, but he continued urgently. “Claire!”
“What?!” She stopped and looked up, annoyed by his insistence that she break her focus from her uncle. All of her actions slowed, her breathing became shallow and her vision filled with the whole army of company men that filled the room.
They were everywhere, on both levels of the room and were determined not to let them walk out of there alive. She couldn't count how many guns were trained on her at that moment, a couple hundred, a thousand. Maybe more.
“Didn't we have a plan, Peter?” Sylar asked, as he bunched closer to Claire and her uncle as one of the guards poked him in the stomach with their gun. “You were going to wait by the exit and I was going to go get Claire. What happened to the plan? It was a good plan. I liked that plan. It would have kept us from being filled with bullet holes. And now here we are planless.”
“Elle tricked me.” Peter strained to breath, still healing far too slow to be much of a help in this battle.
“Well, that's just great.” Sylar spoke bitterly as his anger threatened to overwhelm him. A flank of guards on the right cocked their weapons; they were a few seconds from becoming swiss cheese. “So, what did she do, offer to sleep with you?”
“What? No.” Peter looked at the floor guiltily and sagged against Claire's shoulders. “Maybe.”
“I hope it was a good lay because it was apparently your last.” Sylar would have pounded Peter into the pavement right then and there, if it wasn't for the cocked guns that were aimed at his head. He raised his hands slowly in surrender. “Thank you so very much for dragging me and Claire into your stupidity.”
“Would the two of you stop fighting?” Claire felt like she was on the verge of tears. She didn't want to die, not like this and not so young. “I'm not going to my death listening to the two people I care about most in the world arguing at each other's throats!”
Sylar shot a curious look at her, then nodded. He would appease her for now, after all they didn't have much time left. He took a few steps backwards, closing in the distance while the company circled in on them tighter. He turned his head towards Peter and whispered, “How many can you take?”
He did the math, sizing up their opponents against the weakness he felt. “300.. maybe 4' before I collapse.”
“Which only leaves..” Sylar did a quick estimation and his head dropped in dismay. They were powerful and possessed extraordinary abilities, but they were clearly outnumbered. No matter how many they killed, the company would always send more. “600 for me.”
“Does this mean we're screwed?” Claire raised her eyebrows, not wanting to know the answer. She watched as an older gentleman and Elle appeared on the balcony, watching them with amusement from the second story. Oh yes, they were most certainly screwed.
“Don't worry, Claire. I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve.” Sylar hands began to glow with a warm but threatening energy. The first line of gunmen moved back, alarmed by the power as it began to rumble in his hands. All they possessed to fight against the radioactive energy were a bunch of handguns. The odds were changing and they were not in the company's favor anymore.
Claire could recall only one other time when she'd witnessed this ability in action, one night, many years ago in Kirby Plaza. It still scared her even now. She could remember watching Peter and her father, exploding in to dust in the sky. The only thing that saved Peter that night was his fast healing, something Sylar didn't have in his arsenal.
Her green eyes went wide. She didn't like where this was headed but Sylar seemed content, if a little detached from the moment. “What are you doing, Sylar?”
“Something heroic.” He answered, a bit unsure of his plan but still determined to do some massive destruction. She realized then that he knew he was going to die, and he didn't care. He spoke absently as he starred up at Elle and the older man. No one in the company would survive. “I'm going to take this whole building down. Don't worry, you'll heal.”
“And what about you?!”
He ignored her, probably because he knew she was the only one who could talk him down from this ledge. Instead, he turned to her uncle and discussed the idea, leaving no room for her to make a rebuttal. “Peter, when I tell you, I need you to take Claire and run as fast as you can outside. Can you do that? Can you just stick to this one plan? Because if you don't get her out of her, so help me I'll come back and haunt your ass.”
Peter nodded, sharing the solemn oath.
Claire couldn't believe the two of them, standing there and talking so calmly about a future where he wouldn't exist anymore. This couldn't be happening, but the fear that tightened around her heart was so palpable it had to be real. She moved to Sylar's side, clutching his arms and wanting so badly to drag him out of this building. The company wouldn't let her though, they'd shoot the both of them dead before they could escape.
She touched Sylar's face, softly bending his face down so she could meet his eyes. He couldn't just ignore her when she was starring up at him, bringing him back to the present moment and the reality of what he was going to do. “I can't let you sacrifice yourself, Sylar. Please, I can't lose you.. not after everything. There has to be another way.”
Claire's sudden movement caused Elle to shout the orders at the company's army. “Shoot them. Shoot them all! Shoot everything that moves!!”
A thousand bullets fired in their direction but Sylar and Peter held them off. Their telekinesis stopped as many bullets as they could and the trio dodged the few stray ones that got past the forcefield. Their shield wouldn't last for long and after this moment was over, Claire and Sylar's time would be through.
He wrapped his arms around her, bringing her close to him and the past was instantly forgotten. He wasn't a serial killer, she wasn't a cheerleader. He was just a boy in love with a girl, trying to hold the whole world back. “There isn't any other way, Claire. I need to do this. Besides, this way I can drag the company down to hell with me.”
“But what am I going to do without you? I need you in my life, Sylar. I want you.”
“You're better off without me. You and I both know that.” Sylar brushed away the tears on Claire's cheek. They were running out of time and he wasn't going to change his mind. This was the work he needed to do and Claire was at a lose for how to get him to listen. She couldn't help crying over her defeat and the whole in her heart where she already missed him. “God, Claire. Please don't make this any harder for me.”
“But I lov--”
“Don't.” He placed a finger on her lips, quieting her before she could tell him what they both already knew. He grabbed her shoulders and shook his head, “Don't say that, because you don't and you can't. I don't deserve that. I need you to go and get out of here. Don't ever look back. Please.”
There was a time when Claire thought the word might implode in on itself if Sylar said the word 'please'. It sounded so strange coming from his lips and she was inclined to ignore it. “I love you, Sylar. Do you hear me. If you want to destroy yourself, you'd better understand what you're walking away from.”
“You're not going to save me by getting angry.” Sylar grinned, already knowing all the tactics she would use on him. After this week, they knew each others moves and could easily predict what the other would do. “I know full well what I'm walking away from.. and what I'm saving. You're everything I've ever cared about Claire. I didn't know I could feel this way about anyone.. I was so broken.. and you--” He watched Elle give another order to the army. “You need to get out of here. Now.”
Claire wrapped her arms around him, reaching up to kiss his lips and try to remember every single thing about him so she would could always keep him with her. His arms were so warm, so comforting and she held him tighter, willing herself to never let him go.
Then he pushed her away from him, into Peter's awaiting arms and the heat from his explosion started to grow. She grasped for him, reaching out with her arms and crying at Peter pulled her farther and farther away from the man she loved. Sylar turned away from her, unable to watch as she left. "Peter. Take her! go!"
“No.. no, let me go. I'm staying here.. I want to stay with him!" She fought Peter's hold on her, clawing at his hands as her uncle held her around the waist. She wanted to stay here in this room, as the only thing she loved went up in a fiery explosion. Peter made her run though, forced her through the throng of company men as he made a pathway through them with his telekinesis. She saw him going up in flames, just like Ted.. just like Peter.. like a hero. She wasn't sure he could hear her, but she screamed out the truth anyway. "I love you, Sylar."
In the heat of the guns going off, nuclear explosions and Sylar leaving her behind, Claire was overwhelmed. She needed to keep running but she tripped over something and felt herself falling. Two arms lifted her up, carrying her outside into the cold, winter afternoon and a world without the man she loved. She already hated it there.
Claire found herself lying in the snow, rocked by after shocks as the company building collapsed in on itself. Little earthquakes willed her to consciousness as she turned to see Peter beside her. She lifted herself on her hands as she watched it crumble down and the heatwave pass over the land. She should be thankful that this part of the country was deserted and no civilians were hurt and she was alive.. but she wasn't.
“Sylar?”
Peter placed a hand on her shoulder. “He's gone. He died saving you.”
Claire covered her face with her hands, feeling all the exhaustion of the past week, all the fighting and the traveling coupled with the confusion of falling in love and then watching the person she loved sacrifice himself for her.
Her uncle brought her into a tight embrace, holding her as sobs wracked through her body. Everything was over, everything was gone and the world was suddenly so empty. When her crying subsided and she was quiet again, Peter offered, “Let's go home.”
“Home? Where is home?”
“My house. For now. I mean, if you want.. I have a room for you.” Peter suggested.
After thinking about it, Claire nodded silently. It was as good a place as any, after all, what did it matter where she lived anymore these days. It would still be as far away from Sylar as any other place. He was gone and she would just have to learn to live in a world without him in it.
Peter helped her to her feet and they started down the road together.
..to be continued..
Characters: Sylar, Claire.
Spoilers: Up to Season 2.
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2801
Chapter: 27/?
Previously: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14, Chapter 15, Chapter 16, Chapter 17, Chapter 18, Chapter 19, Chapter 20, Chapter 21, Chapter 22, Chapter 23, Chapter 24, Chapter 25, Chapter 26
Summary: While escaping the Company, Sylar meets up with someone from his past. Together, they must piece together some semblance of normality after years of captivity. Future AU.
“Admit it,” Claire shone the flashlight down the hallway and then back up to Sylar's face. No one was following them anymore and the company now seemed devoid of all life. Maybe the fight that broke out scared the rest of them off. Unfortunately, the fight also left them lost after running from hallway to hallway, corridor to corridor. She was certain they were now walking in circles. “You don't know where we are. We're lost.”
“I know where we are, Claire.” Sylar pushed the flashlight back down, out of his eyes. He appeared to be listening for any clue that might help him find the exit out of this maze. She was pretty certain that he was lying and when he spoke again her worries were confirmed. “We made a right, then two lefts-- or maybe it was three lefts, it was pretty dark.. I'm not sure where we were running exactly.”
“We could always ask for directions.. you know, if everyone we met wasn't trying to kill us.” Claire felt a smile tugging at her lips, despite herself and they'd just lived through only a little while earlier. Both the fight and finding out about Sylar's past should have put her in a foul mood, yet being by his side reluctantly made her happy. It also left her very confused.
“They don't all want to kill us.” Sylar joked as he ushered her closer to the map on the wall. “Some just want to capture us and perform all sort of inhuman tests on us. They have a good variety of crazy here.”
She bit her lip, daring to return to a previous conversation while holding the flashlight on the map as steadily as she could. “Sylar? What were you going to say before? You know, when we were trapped between that flame thrower and those guards?”
“I-- um.. this way.” Sylar grabbed her arm, turned around and started back the way they came. He was evading the question, which wasn't like him. He wasn't one to get flustered so easily.
She followed, not sure they were going in the right direction but figured she might as well humor him. Especially since she didn't know the way out either. “But really, you can tell me.. can't you? I mean what could you be keeping from me that's so horrible?”
“Look, Claire. I..” He stopped and faced her, which was exactly when he started to grow nervous and lose the power of speech again. Running a hand over her shoulders, he searched for words to express whatever the hell he couldn't bring himself to repeat.
Whatever it was that he was keeping from her, she wished he would just say it already. Maybe that would kill the anticipation that caused her stomach to flip flop inside of her. A pained scream cut through the pregnant pause and Sylar sighed in relief as Claire's attention was brought back to more serious matters.
Claire shot her head up, instantly recognizing the voice. “Peter!”
“Oh, thank god.” Sylar muttered, more happy for the interruption than for locating the other man. He grabbed Claire's hand and took off running. Their feet pounded the floor, rushing towards Claire's uncle and whatever danger he'd gotten himself into.
They weren't that far away, after a few quick turns they came to a large, open room surrounded by a second story balcony that ran along the inside of the room. In the center of the room, Peter was scrambling to his feet after what looked like the aftermath of a fight between him and Elle. He was burnt to a crisp but was healing, slowly though since he was still not used to calling on the power he absorbed from Claire.
Claire forgot all about their fight and the fact that Peter didn't want her anywhere near her, she just ran to him and helped him to his feet. “Are you okay?”
“Claire, you shouldn't be here.” Peter groaned as she wrapped one of his arms around her neck, holding his shaking body up. He was badly wounded from the fight, barely able to stand up without her help and she refused to listen to his pleas for her to leave. He was her family; there was no way she was going to abandon him there to fend for himself. Even if he would have done that to her only a day ago.
“Claire?” Sylar called out tentatively. She ignored him, but he continued urgently. “Claire!”
“What?!” She stopped and looked up, annoyed by his insistence that she break her focus from her uncle. All of her actions slowed, her breathing became shallow and her vision filled with the whole army of company men that filled the room.
They were everywhere, on both levels of the room and were determined not to let them walk out of there alive. She couldn't count how many guns were trained on her at that moment, a couple hundred, a thousand. Maybe more.
“Didn't we have a plan, Peter?” Sylar asked, as he bunched closer to Claire and her uncle as one of the guards poked him in the stomach with their gun. “You were going to wait by the exit and I was going to go get Claire. What happened to the plan? It was a good plan. I liked that plan. It would have kept us from being filled with bullet holes. And now here we are planless.”
“Elle tricked me.” Peter strained to breath, still healing far too slow to be much of a help in this battle.
“Well, that's just great.” Sylar spoke bitterly as his anger threatened to overwhelm him. A flank of guards on the right cocked their weapons; they were a few seconds from becoming swiss cheese. “So, what did she do, offer to sleep with you?”
“What? No.” Peter looked at the floor guiltily and sagged against Claire's shoulders. “Maybe.”
“I hope it was a good lay because it was apparently your last.” Sylar would have pounded Peter into the pavement right then and there, if it wasn't for the cocked guns that were aimed at his head. He raised his hands slowly in surrender. “Thank you so very much for dragging me and Claire into your stupidity.”
“Would the two of you stop fighting?” Claire felt like she was on the verge of tears. She didn't want to die, not like this and not so young. “I'm not going to my death listening to the two people I care about most in the world arguing at each other's throats!”
Sylar shot a curious look at her, then nodded. He would appease her for now, after all they didn't have much time left. He took a few steps backwards, closing in the distance while the company circled in on them tighter. He turned his head towards Peter and whispered, “How many can you take?”
He did the math, sizing up their opponents against the weakness he felt. “300.. maybe 4' before I collapse.”
“Which only leaves..” Sylar did a quick estimation and his head dropped in dismay. They were powerful and possessed extraordinary abilities, but they were clearly outnumbered. No matter how many they killed, the company would always send more. “600 for me.”
“Does this mean we're screwed?” Claire raised her eyebrows, not wanting to know the answer. She watched as an older gentleman and Elle appeared on the balcony, watching them with amusement from the second story. Oh yes, they were most certainly screwed.
“Don't worry, Claire. I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve.” Sylar hands began to glow with a warm but threatening energy. The first line of gunmen moved back, alarmed by the power as it began to rumble in his hands. All they possessed to fight against the radioactive energy were a bunch of handguns. The odds were changing and they were not in the company's favor anymore.
Claire could recall only one other time when she'd witnessed this ability in action, one night, many years ago in Kirby Plaza. It still scared her even now. She could remember watching Peter and her father, exploding in to dust in the sky. The only thing that saved Peter that night was his fast healing, something Sylar didn't have in his arsenal.
Her green eyes went wide. She didn't like where this was headed but Sylar seemed content, if a little detached from the moment. “What are you doing, Sylar?”
“Something heroic.” He answered, a bit unsure of his plan but still determined to do some massive destruction. She realized then that he knew he was going to die, and he didn't care. He spoke absently as he starred up at Elle and the older man. No one in the company would survive. “I'm going to take this whole building down. Don't worry, you'll heal.”
“And what about you?!”
He ignored her, probably because he knew she was the only one who could talk him down from this ledge. Instead, he turned to her uncle and discussed the idea, leaving no room for her to make a rebuttal. “Peter, when I tell you, I need you to take Claire and run as fast as you can outside. Can you do that? Can you just stick to this one plan? Because if you don't get her out of her, so help me I'll come back and haunt your ass.”
Peter nodded, sharing the solemn oath.
Claire couldn't believe the two of them, standing there and talking so calmly about a future where he wouldn't exist anymore. This couldn't be happening, but the fear that tightened around her heart was so palpable it had to be real. She moved to Sylar's side, clutching his arms and wanting so badly to drag him out of this building. The company wouldn't let her though, they'd shoot the both of them dead before they could escape.
She touched Sylar's face, softly bending his face down so she could meet his eyes. He couldn't just ignore her when she was starring up at him, bringing him back to the present moment and the reality of what he was going to do. “I can't let you sacrifice yourself, Sylar. Please, I can't lose you.. not after everything. There has to be another way.”
Claire's sudden movement caused Elle to shout the orders at the company's army. “Shoot them. Shoot them all! Shoot everything that moves!!”
A thousand bullets fired in their direction but Sylar and Peter held them off. Their telekinesis stopped as many bullets as they could and the trio dodged the few stray ones that got past the forcefield. Their shield wouldn't last for long and after this moment was over, Claire and Sylar's time would be through.
He wrapped his arms around her, bringing her close to him and the past was instantly forgotten. He wasn't a serial killer, she wasn't a cheerleader. He was just a boy in love with a girl, trying to hold the whole world back. “There isn't any other way, Claire. I need to do this. Besides, this way I can drag the company down to hell with me.”
“But what am I going to do without you? I need you in my life, Sylar. I want you.”
“You're better off without me. You and I both know that.” Sylar brushed away the tears on Claire's cheek. They were running out of time and he wasn't going to change his mind. This was the work he needed to do and Claire was at a lose for how to get him to listen. She couldn't help crying over her defeat and the whole in her heart where she already missed him. “God, Claire. Please don't make this any harder for me.”
“But I lov--”
“Don't.” He placed a finger on her lips, quieting her before she could tell him what they both already knew. He grabbed her shoulders and shook his head, “Don't say that, because you don't and you can't. I don't deserve that. I need you to go and get out of here. Don't ever look back. Please.”
There was a time when Claire thought the word might implode in on itself if Sylar said the word 'please'. It sounded so strange coming from his lips and she was inclined to ignore it. “I love you, Sylar. Do you hear me. If you want to destroy yourself, you'd better understand what you're walking away from.”
“You're not going to save me by getting angry.” Sylar grinned, already knowing all the tactics she would use on him. After this week, they knew each others moves and could easily predict what the other would do. “I know full well what I'm walking away from.. and what I'm saving. You're everything I've ever cared about Claire. I didn't know I could feel this way about anyone.. I was so broken.. and you--” He watched Elle give another order to the army. “You need to get out of here. Now.”
Claire wrapped her arms around him, reaching up to kiss his lips and try to remember every single thing about him so she would could always keep him with her. His arms were so warm, so comforting and she held him tighter, willing herself to never let him go.
Then he pushed her away from him, into Peter's awaiting arms and the heat from his explosion started to grow. She grasped for him, reaching out with her arms and crying at Peter pulled her farther and farther away from the man she loved. Sylar turned away from her, unable to watch as she left. "Peter. Take her! go!"
“No.. no, let me go. I'm staying here.. I want to stay with him!" She fought Peter's hold on her, clawing at his hands as her uncle held her around the waist. She wanted to stay here in this room, as the only thing she loved went up in a fiery explosion. Peter made her run though, forced her through the throng of company men as he made a pathway through them with his telekinesis. She saw him going up in flames, just like Ted.. just like Peter.. like a hero. She wasn't sure he could hear her, but she screamed out the truth anyway. "I love you, Sylar."
In the heat of the guns going off, nuclear explosions and Sylar leaving her behind, Claire was overwhelmed. She needed to keep running but she tripped over something and felt herself falling. Two arms lifted her up, carrying her outside into the cold, winter afternoon and a world without the man she loved. She already hated it there.
Claire found herself lying in the snow, rocked by after shocks as the company building collapsed in on itself. Little earthquakes willed her to consciousness as she turned to see Peter beside her. She lifted herself on her hands as she watched it crumble down and the heatwave pass over the land. She should be thankful that this part of the country was deserted and no civilians were hurt and she was alive.. but she wasn't.
“Sylar?”
Peter placed a hand on her shoulder. “He's gone. He died saving you.”
Claire covered her face with her hands, feeling all the exhaustion of the past week, all the fighting and the traveling coupled with the confusion of falling in love and then watching the person she loved sacrifice himself for her.
Her uncle brought her into a tight embrace, holding her as sobs wracked through her body. Everything was over, everything was gone and the world was suddenly so empty. When her crying subsided and she was quiet again, Peter offered, “Let's go home.”
“Home? Where is home?”
“My house. For now. I mean, if you want.. I have a room for you.” Peter suggested.
After thinking about it, Claire nodded silently. It was as good a place as any, after all, what did it matter where she lived anymore these days. It would still be as far away from Sylar as any other place. He was gone and she would just have to learn to live in a world without him in it.
Peter helped her to her feet and they started down the road together.
..to be continued..