Heroes Episode 4.15 Close To You

H.R.G. thinks over what's gone down between himself and Claire over the last few weeks. How can he explain that evil does exist without dampening her spirits? How can he protect her without losing her? With no easy answers, H.R.G. snaps out of it and gets back to work with Lauren, trying to locate Samuel by examining the minutiae of his past. When Lauren suggests that H.R.G. call Claire to get the compass, he gets angry. Calling Claire is not an option, and if Lauren doesn't want to help, she can leave.

Lauren gets a hit with the name Vanessa Wheeler, whose parents owned the estate where Samuel's parents worked when he was a kid. H.R.G. recognizes the Wheeler estate as the location of Samuel's sinkhole, and Lauren finds recent surveillance camera footage of Samuel together with Vanessa, which yields Vanessa's California phone number. H.R.G. calls Vanessa, but she denies that she knows anyone named Samuel Sullivan and hangs up the phone. When H.R.G. decides to go to California, Lauren wishes him luck and leaves him feeling like a jerk.

Lydia finds Samuel in his trailer writing a letter, to whom he won't say. He asks Lydia to be patient; they're on the verge of realizing all their dreams. Lydia wonders if those dreams might only belong to Samuel. He just smiles enigmatically and asks her to pick up some ink supplies. Covering his drawing of Vanessa, Samuel promises that Lydia will meet her soon. He's been waiting a long time to bring her to the Carnival, and the time has finally come.

Lydia tells Amanda that Samuel's planning something big and she doesn't like it. Amanda insists that Samuel has been good to her; why does Lydia have to cause trouble? Lydia explains that if the family is going to survive, they're going to need a new leader. Samuel himself said that there was a man of compassion who might be the next Joseph. When Amanda suggests that Lydia call this guy, Lydia closes her eyes. Far away in New York City, Peter awakes in pain as the compass tattoo reappears on his forearm.

Over morning coffee, Matt peruses a cookbook, deciding to make ratatouille for dinner. Janice mentions that her brother is looking to hire a software salesman, insulting Matt. Janice explains that she's worried. Ever since Matt returned home, he barely leaves the house; Matt explains that he's content being a house husband and taking care of his family. As soon as Janice leaves, Matt is unhappy to find H.R.G. sitting in the living room. Playing on Matt's family ties while accusing him of sticking his head in the sand, H.R.G. convinces Matt to help him find Samuel. Today Claire is in danger, tomorrow it could be baby Matty.

Ando is full of misgivings, but Hiro insists on committing himself to Riverdale Psychiatric Hospital to find Dr. Watson, a.k.a. Mohinder. Burly orderly Buck explains that only patients are allowed behind the double doors, and leads Hiro away. Passing a locked door with a sign that reads "Ahmadi," Hiro turns back to Ando, letting him know that Dr. Watson is there. Using his red lightening, Ando disables the double door lock and proceeds into the bowels of the hospital.

H.R.G. and Matt stand outside the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, waiting for cellist Vanessa to finish her rehearsal with the L.A. Chamber Orchestra. When Vanessa finally appears, H.R.G. introduces himself and asks if they can go somewhere to talk, but Vanessa asks to be left alone and walks off. H.R.G. asks for Matt's help, so Matt pushes thoughts into Vanessa's head: she can trust them. Vanessa returns, claiming to be happy that H.R.G. called; she needs someone to talk to, because she's worried about Samuel.

On a bustling Manhattan street, Peter calls H.R.G., leaving the message that his compass tattoo has returned. Suddenly, Peter hears cello music, which he follows slavishly to Emma's apartment. Emma is thrilled to see Peter -- her attempt to summon him with her cello music worked! When Peter spies the painted compass on Emma's cello, she admits that a man named Samuel gave it to her. Peter rolls up his sleeve to show the tattoo on his arm, identical to the compass on Emma's cello.

Vanessa tells H.R.G. and Matt about growing up with Samuel. He wrote love poems for her, and neither of them cared that his parents worked for hers. One day, she came home and the Sullivans were gone, so she moved on with her life. Then when she was at Yale, Samuel showed up one night all swagger and rock and roll, and she was in the right place for a bad boyfriend. It was a wild couple of weeks until Samuel asked her to marry him and move to the Carnival, of all places. Ever since Joseph died, Samuel has been showing up more often, spouting craziness, and seems to be obsessed with her. Deciding that it's time to bring the Carnival to them, H.R.G. asks Vanessa to call Samuel.

Peter takes Emma back to his apartment to show her the newspaper photo of the guy he knows as William Hooper from the MTA bus crash. Emma recognizes Samuel and explains that he asked her to help him find a homeless man and gave her a compass. Peter warns Emma to steer clear of Samuel, even if she thinks he's a good man. Angela knocks and lets herself in for a lunch date with Peter, freezing when she sees Emma. Bypassing Peter's polite introduction, Angela demands to know how he knows Emma, who leaves quickly. When Peter demands to know what's going on, Angela keeps mum.

Relieved that Hiro isn't as crazy as he thought, Ando sits in the day room with Hiro, scheming as to how to break Mohinder out of solitary. Why doesn't he just use his super strength? Indicating Buck's cartful of patient medication, Hiro knows that the storm troopers have dulled Dr. Watson's senses with Jawa juice. They must turn Bruce Banner back into the Hulk! Ando finds the medication for Ahmadi and replaces it with aspirin, but Buck smells a rat, forcing Ando to swallow the palmed drugs. Hiro sighs; it's naptime for Sancho.

H.R.G. hides in the lobby of Vanessa's apartment building where the meet with Samuel is to take place, while Matt sits in the car with a laptop running GPS tracking software. They are just reviewing their plan when Samuel appears out of nowhere. H.R.G. turns, only to have one of the Elis knock him to the floor. H.R.G. starts tasering Elis as Samuel disappears with Vanessa. H.R.G. follows them to an alley, where Samuel creates a blockade from the blacktop and whips up a sandstorm. By the time H.R.G. recovers, Samuel and Vanessa are gone. Matt screeches up in the car, and they take off, following Samuel by GPS.

Angela admits that she had a dream; there's nothing Peter can do to save Emma, he needs to save himself. When Peter presses Angela to tell him the whole story for once, she admits the dream was foggy, but Emma is going to help kill thousands of people, and it has something to do with a cello. Peter deduces that although he may not be able to save her, someone else can. As Angela turns to leave, Peter grabs her arm and absorbs her power. Angela warns that dreaming the future is not necessarily a gift.

Hiro knocks on the window of Mohinder's cell, encouraging him to bust out of his straightjacket. Once his head clears, Mohinder crashes down his door, only to realize that Hiro is talking funny, and it was Hiro who put him in the cell in the first place. With marauding Stormtroopers on their trail, Hiro insists there's no time to spare -- they have to rescue Sancho and escape. He leads Mohinder to the day room, where Ando is shorting out, stoned out his mind and hiding in the broom closet. When an alarm sounds, the guys make a run for it, defeating the orderlies and escaping.

The GPS leads H.R.G. and Matt to an empty field, where it seems like the Carnival may have been just moments before. Matt asks how Claire found it before, and H.R.G. admits that she has a compass. Matt figures H.R.G. should just go back to Claire, but he refuses. Frustrated, the guys return to Matt's house, where he starts making dinner. Feeling responsible for Vanessa's kidnapping, H.R.G. wants to go after her, but Matt refuses. H.R.G. lays into Matt, but Matt insists that it's too big for them; H.R.G. should go home and get his own house in order.

Peter has a terrible dream of a crazed-looking Emma playing cello amidst thousands of terrified screams. When Sylar comes to save Emma, Peter wakes up in a cold sweat, then rushes to Emma's apartment to smash her cello to smithereens. Unable to understand Peter's dream and his warnings that Samuel is behind something bad that's going to happen, Emma orders Peter to leave. Now.

The Stormtroopers chase Hiro, Ando and Mohinder through the woods with dogs. Mohinder thinks their only chance is to teleport out of there, but Ando explains that Hiro hasn't been able to teleport since his brain got scrambled. Mohinder hatches a plan to approximate electro-shock therapy using Ando's red lightning. Ando's reluctant, but makes it happen. Hiro screams in pain and falls against a tree, but quickly recovers and his old self. Declaring that they have to stop Samuel Sullivan, Hiro teleports them away in the nick of time.

Sheepish and apologetic, H.R.G. proceeds to Claire's dorm to apologize. He knows she's mad, and he doesn't want to talk her out of it, but he's hoping they can rebuild the bridge of trust that connects them. Claiming that she's late for something, Claire asks if they can talk later and closes her door. Back in Los Angeles, Janice enjoys the delicious ratatouille that Matt has made for dinner, realizing that her husband is distracted. Matt asks her if she thinks he's a coward. After all, he has the worst guy in the world living in his head, and when Sylar finally left, he didn't go after him.

It turns out Matt feels guilty, eating ratatouille with his family when people he cares about are suffering. Maybe he should be facing the world, trying to do something about the problems he's caused. Janice insists that Matt is a simple man, and his place is looking after his family. There's nothing cowardly about that. She pulls Matt in for a reassuring hug, but he's not convinced, fully aware that Vanessa is in some kind of trouble.

Back at the Carnival, Eli stands guard over Samuel's trailer, where Vanessa is basically imprisoned. Samuel apologizes. It wasn't supposed to be like this, and it's all H.R.G.'s fault. He had to get her away from him. Feeling kidnapped, Vanessa tries to leave, but Samuel grabs her, somewhat erotically, promising that he has a good reason for all of this. He wants her to see something beautiful and magical. Once Vanessa sees this perfection, he'll take her back to California if she's still unhappy.

Back home, H.R.G. is just adding the photo of Vanessa to his wall, when there's a knock at the door. Lauren saw his light and wants to know what happened in California. H.R.G. admits his trip wasn't as fruitful as he would have liked, and that he cares for Lauren more than he wants to admit. They agree, it's complicated. When Lauren warns him not to do it again, H.R.G. pulls her in for their first kiss, just as Hiro teleports in with Ando and Mohinder.