seekevolution | Quarantine

Quarantine

News had a way of spreading a little too quickly. The moment Nathan had fallen at the press conference, media began having it's field day. Mohinder paid little attention.

He arrived at Odessa fourteen hours after the incident, severely jet-lagged and with a computer pre-loaded with all of the information that the Company thought he'd need. Mohinder had been down this road before, though never with such dire circumstances. The Shanti Virus was a subject near and dear to his heart, though it was far less stressful when all he needed to cure it was a bit of blood. Even though it was his own blood, at least he felt as if he was doing something.

Knowing from experience that not everything was black and white anymore, Mohinder kept his laptop and medical kit close at hand and made his way to the quarantine line with a grim look in his redrimmed black eyes. "Mohinder Suresh," he said, forgetting his title again for just a moment. "Doctor. You need to let me through."

The National Guard service man looked wary before radioing it in through the barricade. It was tense. Mohinder's shoulder bag slipped twice and he nearly dropped his sample kit. "All right, cleared to go in. Good luck, doctor."

Mohinder nodded, rubbing the back of his neck. He'd gone from New York to India and back again in two days, bringing Molly to stay with his mother. After what Sylar did to her, again, he could not risk leaving her in anyone else's care. Not with Matt gone.

Seeing the man, however, after he'd just gone off on this quest to find his father at the expense of helping him with a child they both sort of promised to look out for, did not make Mohinder smile. If anything, it only made the lines on his face etch in more deeply. He stood in front of him, looking as tired as Mohinder felt, ill fitting clothing a bit more rumpled than usual. Never mind, of course, that Mohinder had done his fair share of leaving too on his attempts to bait the Company through lectures across the globe. "Do I have a lab yet?" Mohinder asked. No greetings. No necessities. That's what happens when you abandon people, Matt.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Matt wasn't reading his thoughts. It was easy to want to block a lot of thoughts out with the city noise, anyway. That said - he felt at home with the din. It was comforting particularly after the silence of Odessa. He'd always been a city person.

But tuning thoughts out didn't mean that he missed the glances, and that had the utterly predictable effect of making him glance back. It was ... well. He quickly averted his eyes whenever he caught Mohinder or Mohinder caught him. It was only now in the relative ease that he was actually thinking about it. Whatever this "it" was. Itwas, in all honesty, really surreal to think that Mohinder might like him. Matt was just a cop - not really anyone, other than his mind thing. Mohinder was a professor who looked like he could have anyone he smiled at. Something about it didn't quite add up.

... oh yeah, and the sexuality thing. Matt wasn't sure where to begin with that one. So he didn't. But he did listen to the lilting Tamil and snuck glances at Mohinder's profile when he did.

And after a rudimentary setup of the furniture some time later and some cold water drunk directly from the tap (at least in Matt's case) there was a pause to just take all that in. And feel steadier. His head hurt again along with the bit of strain in his muscles but honestly, it was all fine.

He stretched and shot Mohinder a look. For a moment, anyway. The watch on his wwrist got the remainde of that gaze.

"When's the flight?"

The truth was that Mohinder gravitated towards attention. He wanted people that wanted him, or protected him, or looked out for him or smiled a little too much his way. He wasn't picky, as was obvious by the way he sling shotted from Mira to Eden to Zane...to Matt. It'd all been within a matter of months too, though Matt had been through quite a few ordeals with him now. Of course Mohinder felt close to Matt.

Of course, he wanted to feel even closer too. He was doing his best to keep that to himself.

Rubbing the sore spot on the back of his neck by his shoulder, Mohinder arched an eyebrow and glanced at his own watch. "Three hours. I suppose we'd better get our things together. You can watch the hoops I'll have to jump through to get past airline screening," he said with a grin. "Let me have one more good look at those stitches. I hope the cabin pressure won't be too terrible on your head."

Mohinder fully intended to sleep on the plane. He did hope Matt would too. They both would need their sleep before being attacked by their girl at the airport.

Matt felt a little bit like insisting that it was fine, really, but the cut did throb and after he tested just how badly by lightly pressing his fingertips to it he relented. So he turned a chair around and sat down, one arm resting against the table. New items, all of them.

"Is it really that bad?" he asked, again feeling curious, looking up at Mohinder and only sort of tensing up beneath his touch now. The cut felt better unless the stitches or irritated skin was nudged. Not to mention the cut itself ... More future battle scars. He knew Peter must have disposed of Sylar in the most permanent way possible but he still sent a small thought to the Big Guy Upstairs despite not feeling the least bit religious right then that asked for Sylar to never show up again.

Back to the matter at hand, though: "You don't look much like a terrorist." It was deadpan in the way that was supposed to be teasing. Mohinder really didn't, though. He was way too pretty for wanted posters.

"Your head was nearly sliced open by a sociopath that liked to hear people in pain," Mohinder replied softly with the corners of his lips lifting up. He guided Matt's head gently back so he could take a better look at the cut. No puss yet, thankfully. "I think you're going to live." A little alcohol. A little dabbing. A little blowing. A few light puffs of air-- Mohinder would have made a good medical doctor or a nurse like Peter.

He took his time fixing the bandage again, perhaps with a touch charged just a little on the side of less than platonic. Mohinder kept his eyes on Matt's hairline, purposefully missing his gaze.

Just in case.

"What ought a terrorist look like? More shifty eyed? Less well dressed?" He was teasing now too. "At least if I'm with you, I ought to be all right on the way back. Thankfully, I don't tend to carry much in my luggage. It's always bothered me...the idea of someone going through my underwear. All right, I think you'll live. We should just take a cab. Did you want a shower first?"

Matt kept his eyes down as well, although he did 'hm' slightly in either agreement or thought. Yeah, he'd live. He was quite happy about that. And if he was in any way uncomfortable from the way Mohinder touched him he didn't say anything about it.

"That too", he shot back, tapping his fingers lightly on the table. "It's usually the beard, though. Go a few days without shaving and I might have to bring you in."

Leaning back after Mohinder's approval, he stood and scratched at the back of his neck, considering it. Then he shook his head. "Nah, I'm good." Probably wasn't really - they were both decidedly unfresh what with the last shower that was had had been back in Odessa before they'd temporarily adopted Peter. Matt would feel good enough if he just splashed some water in his face and switched shirts, though, so he didn't feel the need. "You?"

Mohinder had showered enough to wash his hair and tame the curls a bit but a real shower? The thought of one actually made his bones ache for it. They could take their turns in India. His mother's home was beautiful and the bathrooms exquisite. "I'd just want another one once we stepped off the plane any way," he reasoned and shook his head. For now, at least, he'd do a spot washing to be sure he didn't smell too badly.

He really should shave though. He was a hairy man, thanks to his own culture and genetics. The stubble on his cheek, however? Quite fetching. If you liked that sort of thing.

"I'll be sure to read up on Islam extremism as well. I'd like to be able to act the part as you haul me in." Haul... Probably not in the context but sue him. A man going on several years dry could have some naughty thoughts here and there.

...even about a telepath. In the room. With him. Whoops.

He excused himself to the bathroom to do some washing up and returned less than ten minutes later, feeling a little fresher and ready to get going. They had a little girl with long blonde hair to fuss over.

"You'd walk just fine", Matt said, raising an eyebrow. "We don't cuff people's feet."

... well. He sort of cringed at himself for that one when Mohinder left the room but proceeded to block his thoughts out - Mohinder's and his own - and put on a different shirt, splashed that water in his face and then double checked that he had everything on him. Keys, wallet, passport. It had probably taken Mohinder a while to find that particular item, likely still left at the bottom of the box of assorted paperwork he'd gotten from Janice a month or so into his stay.

Yep, they were more ro less ready to go, and when Mohinder stepped out into the kitchen again Matt was throwing some clothes and other necessities into a backpack, tossing another at the other man. They wouldn't need all that much since in the end, it wasn't likely to be a long stay.

"Do we need to get cash?" Matt asked, meaning what ... ever money they used in India, he honestly didn't know. "Um, whatever it's called?"

"Rupees," Mohinder stated with a laugh. "I'll exchange money when we arrive," he promised. "My mother is planning on bringing Molly to meet us. I ought to let he know the flight information--" An email would do. He didn't want to excite Molly too much when they had a plane to catch still.

Halfway to the airport, Mohinder yawned against the back of his hand and by the time they got through security, shoes in a little plastic tub and belongings picked through, all he really wanted to do was sleep. At least they were on a fairly good pace to be able to explore Madrass a little while Matt was still there.

The seats for international flights waiting at the gate were incredibly comfortable and Mohinder sunk low while they were waiting for their flight to be called for boarding. He couldn't stop his head from drifting to Matt's shoulder, though he did try twice. It was cold in the airport and no amount of lattes was going to keep him awake, even when there was less than a half an hour until their flight.

He did try, and try hard, to fight off each and every yawn. Matt's shoulder was warm. Comfortable.

No wonder he'd been so willing to cozy up in bed.

Once again, Matt could feel the exhaustion, but not the willingness to rest. They had been up for a while - but Mohinder was clearly feeling it a lot more than he did, if the way he kept losing focus and drifting towards his shoulder was any indication. Matt didn't do anything about this other than observe with a vague mix of amusement and embarrassment, but when it was time to board he did wake Mohinder rather gently, with a hand to his shoulder and a light shake.

"Hey. Mohinder. Come on, we gotta board. You can sleep more on the plane."

He offered him a hand and they went. The staff were nice enough, the seats were decent, and once they were in them Matt sunk down a bit as well. How long was the flight again? Either way, might as well be uncomfortable.

"Hey, before I lose you again. You should probably give me some bare-bones survival tips. Dos and Don'ts?"

With a window seat, Mohinder had been planning on leaning in that particular direction to spare Matt, and the moment his seatbelt was on, he yawned very softly into his wrist and lifted tired, dark eyes towards the other man. "You're an American, you'll be forgiven," Mohinder said, back in a happy place with a thread of sleepy thoughts running through his mind. "I suppose the largest would be use of your left hand. Don't use it," he said, stretching his arms over his head just to situate his back against the seat. "Not to pass someone anything. It's unclean. Shoes should be removed inside."

There was another huge yawn.

"Ah... Don't touch my mother." It made him grin to think about it. "Or offer her your hand to shake. She's not really that old fashioned, but she's a widow and-- I suppose some things stick with her."

There were others...but Mohinder had gotten away from them long ago. Head touching, pointing--

Perhaps he ought to mention feet but-- Alas, his long eyelashes were already against his cheek.

"Unclean? Really?"

Somewhat incredulous, Matt leant his head in his hand, elbow balancing on the far armrest as he looked back at Mohinder. The yawn was contagious and he had to stifle one of his own, but he paid attention until Mohinder fell asleep. And then he leaned more heavily into his hand and looked around at the other passengers, letting the surrounding thoughts come back to him.

As more and more people were settling down, most of them looking forward to the in-flight movie or a nap, he caught the internal narration of someone reading a cheesy love-slash-crime story and latched onto that one when he turned slightly and looked out the window. Until at some point he started looking at Mohinder. He hadn't really looked at him before, in all honesty, but as he was more or less zoning out with the young woman's voice in his head he found that he was. Just looking.

Until Mohinder eventually did seem to seek him out in his sleep, the way he had the last few days and nights, and Matt allowed him his shoulder. As the tiredness eventually caught up to him as well he leaned his chin on Mohinder's hair and closed his eyes.

Two hours or so before landing, the sound of the food cart being pushed down the aisle made Mohinder stir and he lifted his eyes slightly. Matt was close. Dozing. He could feel the breath catching in his hair and the weight of Matt's head on his own was surprisingly wonderful.

The flight attendant paused at their seat and Mohinder whispered that he'd like a vegetarian meal and water. Matt would take the chicken. Chicken was typically safe. "Cola. Regular." She smiled at him, 'knowingly,' but Mohinder brushed her off. He tended to do that, either not in tune with the thought patterns of others (true), or simply being socially clueless (also true).

Mohinder put a hand just above Matt's knee and shook him gently. Missing a meal when suffering blood loss was never a wise move, and so waking him -- while unfortunate -- was necessary.

Matt? You're going to have dinner in about twenty minutes.

Could a person purr in their thoughts?

Nudge at dreams towards telepaths?

Matt woke easily, with that little yes-I'm-awake-twitch found everywhere in people who didn't expect to be woken. He looked ahead, realized that Mohinder was actually thinking something at him even though he hadn't quite caught what, and in the same moment realized that Mohinder was sort of nestled beneath him.

He moved back and rubbed at his eyes, yawning.

"Sorry, what?" he mumbled into his hand, shooting Mohinder a somewhat disoriented and self-conscious look. Then he frowned at the returning thoughts, a little grouped together, and looked up at the ceiling. Only to regret that and lean forward to look out the window. He didn't recognise the surface below, but that was to be expected.

"I'm not going to have blood loss forever", he said, offhandedly, biting back another yawn. "Where are we?"

"On an airplane," Mohinder said smartly, sitting up and stretching. His back utterly ached and he wanted nothing more than to close his eyes and go back to sleep-- At least until his stomach protested. Food, then perhaps a bit of a nap before Matt has to go through customs for his little visit. Mohinder doesn't expect anyone to give him a hard time.

Matt Parkman was a good guy, but more than that, he could get people to look the other way from time to time as needed.

"And about two hours from landing. We'll be there shortly," he promised. "If not the blood loss, then you'll need your strength for a Molly-sized tackle," he grinned, setting his hand over Matt's just for a second without quite realising what he was doing. He compensated by pulling down both of their tray tables instead and thinking heavily about stuffed elephants, carry on luggage, and if he'll have to buy another seat for it on the flight back.

It's better than the alternative thoughts in his head, isn't it?

And luckily, those were dashed as soon as he was presented with a meal to tear into!

"No kidding", Matt deadpanned right back, although at the mention of Molly he couldn't stop the smile. It was a very sunny one that was only subdued by the fact that he needed a really good stretch after that awkward position, and he rubbed a bit at his neck when he settled back into his seat.

Mohinder's thoughts were altogether too focused so Matt decided to ignore them and instead out of curiosity searched for the one who'd been reading the story he'd fallen asleep to, but she seemed to have stopped reading. Which was too bad.

The meal wasn't though, and Matt ate it gladly, not having realized how hungry he'd actually been. They hadn't wound up eating too much inbetween the abrupt moving and the plane taking off. A sandwich here or there or a quick bagel along with overpriced coffee hardly counted for food so actually getting to eat something cooked was a nice change of pace.

"So, like ... what's your mother like?"

It was asked after a moment inbetween bites.

Meeting the parents for the first time wasn't likely the topic that Matt had intended for them to get into but alas, Mohinder was fairly excited to speak about his mother. They'd been close, the way that Matt probably wouldn't understand with his own mother worked to the bone after his father left but Mrs. Suresh was still too religious for Mohinder's taste and while they got along well, he always felt a bit like a disappointment.

Still, she didn't begrudge him a thing and when he sent a little girl to stay with her, she'd embraced Molly.

Who knows what Molly's been saying-- The thought was laughable. She'd probably talked his mother's ear off already.

"I think you'll like her, if you can get passed all the questions she'll ask. She's...nosy."

And you have gorgeous eyes. Oh look, peanuts. He needed to check himself, badly.

It was weird - it sort of was like a version of meeting the parents. Except they weren't dating. ... well. But it was still a situation of Matt and Mohinder being a team, and raising a girl together, and there was something about that situation that seemed like it needed some kind of approval when you took the parents into consideration.

Matt's own were out of the picture, of course. And since Chandra was dead it was realy only Mohinder's mom left, but Matt could pick up on the warmth Mohinder spoke of her with and it made him smile a little, too.

"Uh oh." Nosy was such a scary word, but he was joking about it. Although that did beg the question - "Does she know about Molly and me? I mean, what we can do."

"She knew about my father's research," Mohinder said, playing with the edges of the peanuts without opening the package, just for something to do with his hands. "And my sister-- She was like you and Molly. I'm not quite sure how. My parents never brought Shanti up. I don't blame them." But he did blame himself. He came along just a little too late...but at least his anti-bodies were in place to save Molly. "I did not mention what, exactly, you both can do."

Though he had spoken at length about both Molly and Matt. So long as he kept his mother more or less in the loop, she didn't worry. One didn't rush off to the States to avenge one's father without your mother being worried!

"God, please don't read my mother's mind just in case she thinks something incredibly embarrassing about me." It'd be worse than awkward baby pictures!

Much, much worse.

"Any way, Molly knows better than to tell anyone about her ability. I doubt she shared it with my mother."

Matt snorted, surprised by the request. "Right. Can't make any promises." That would in fact be quite the potential goldmine for blackmail material, and he wasn't going to let that go so easily.

He agreed, though. "Yeah, she's smart. I was just, you know ... whether we should be hiding or not. You'd know better than us with her."

Matt would always err on the side of caution with the whole thing but he wouldn't mind Mohinder's opinion in this particular situation.

"The power is yours, Matt," Mohinder said solemnly. "She's an open minded woman, but should you choose to keep what you do to yourself, no one would blame you. On this front, you'll have to be Molly's role model."

A good one at that. I should pick up some parenting books.

The thought process led Mohinder into a discussion of a different sort for the remainder of the flight. Where was their stance on friends? Could Molly have play dates? Sleep overs? She was a friendly kid and would soon be a teenager. How did they deal with her when she hated them? Should they look into colleges yet? High schools?

Mohinder was a worrier and, perhaps, taking on a bit of the mothering role here. Despite his eyelashes and the way he dressed, he wasn't quite as feminine as he might sound during the conversation, but he could already feel himself growing gray and she'd not even been their's half a year.

Matt listened to Mohinder only so long before he held up a hand, giving him a halfway fond, halfway exasperated smile. "Hey hey hey, slow down, it's okay, I promise." He waited for Mohinder to really looks at him before he gestured vaguely towards the side. "Look, I'm slightly terrified too, but let's just ... roll with the punches on this one, okay? She's only eleven."

High school was ages away. And Matt was absolutely the kind to look over his shoulder and knew he had trust issues when it came to new people sometimes, but he also had the sense to realize that they couldn't possibly plan for a life. Besides, they'd need time to have fun with it, too.

"Let's just, I don't know, let's just talk about it. As we go." He tilted his head slightly, smile turning reassuring and slightly teasing. "Can't have a hypothesis for everything in life, Mohinder."

"Why not?" It was almost a whine, but Mohinder let Matt calm him down both because he wanted to be and because Matt was surprisingly good at it. He seemed to thrive with an ability to be soothing...and that wasn't part of his cerebral ability either. It was simply who he was.

No wonder he's so easy to care for.

Mohinder let his head fall back against the headrest, unintentionally pretty with exposure of a long neck and curls to hang in his eyes. The captain put on the seat belt sign for their descent, but Mohinder's mind was still more on the combination of Matt-and-Molly than on Molly and their reunion.

Being away from her was always so hard. And for awhile there? Mohinder didn't think he'd even see her again. At least he'd been wrong.

"I'll try my very best not to get too many gray hairs worrying about giving her away at her wedding just yet," he promised, turning his head to watch the ground race up to meet them. India, even from this distance, was a land of rich colour. He felt oddly good to be back.

"Woah, wedding?" Matt shot Mohinder a very serious look, but the light in his eyes betrayed the humor. "She's not getting married. I'm enforcing a ban on dating until she's 80."

He buckled up and when Mohinder turned away to look out the window he let his gaze linger for a second on his neck and jaw line before he leant forward to see the country as well. Definitely a land of color - it seemed a lot more saturated than anything in New York and Matt gave a low whistle as more of the buildings came into view.

"This should be fun", he noted idly, glancing at Mohinder again, feeling excited now with Molly so close and something so different even closer.

Or terrifying. He didn't doubt that Matt Parkman was a man with an open mind but India's culture was not anything like what Matt knew, not even in California. Mohinder didn't worry, exactly, but he was afraid that the sights and the smells of his country would send Matt packing for a land of cheeseburgers and less dietary restrictions based on cow meat.

The airport was bustling, as busy as New York or LAX. Mohinder grabbed Matt's arm as he exited immigration from the brief interview customs officials gave him, grinning merrily. He'd never been so glad that they'd taken everything as a carry-on. No waiting at a carousel for baggage. There was a little girl, hopefully, downstairs waiting for them.

She saw them before Mohinder saw her as they travelled down the escalator and though Mrs. Suresh called for her to stop before she could bang into other passengers, Molly would not be dissuaded.

Dressed in a cornflower blue and yellow silk sari with her hair braided in a line down her back, Molly flung herself at the two men, both of whom dropped to her level to accept a simultaneous hug from a girl that could brighten up their world in the span of a smile.

"You look beautiful," Mohinder gushed, eyes on her and her alone, though he'd transferred one hand to Matt's shoulder in the interest of space.

Yeah, it was a little scary, definitely. Matt wouldn't deny that. The most foreign thing was the language, because while he'd gotten accustomed to its sound after spending so much time around Mohinder, he still didn't know what any of it meant. And that left him helpless, in a way. He could hear thoughts but he couldn't translate them. Would commands work in English? He didn't know any other languages unless you counted being able to order two beer in Spanish.

But those were all things for later. Everything else sort of disappeared when Molly all but attacked them, and Matt immediately circled an arm around her, gathering her close to both of them and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"God, I missed you", he said and felt a little bit like crying except he was smiling so damn much. He looped his other arm around Mohinder's shoulders to hold onto the one furthest away from him because it felt like the right thing to do. Together again, all of them.

"I was watching you all the way here!" Molly told them and burrowed into them like she wanted to disappear into their hug and never come back out. Matt all but melted and kissed her hair again.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject