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.

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"We aren't doing anything," Mohinder said immediately, a smile touching his lips but not his eyes. "I'm not angry with you." Actually, he'd been agreeing. If Matt had been thinking about Janice, or about his job, perhaps about Molly, or if something caused him to be sad, who was the Indian to insist on having a heart to heart? "I over reacted, it seems." He hoped.

Leaning his shoulder against the door for a moment, his head gave a little nod.

"Everything between us is fine." If only he believed that himself. Nothing was fine. Not now at least. But it would be. Mohinder just needed to delve back into work where even the thought of romance was utterly beyond him.

He did, however, need some space. A week here without Matt would do him the most good.

"If you need help packing or want to make another trip to sight see before you leave, give me about an hour and we can do that."

Matt smiled back to settle the truce, however long it'd last this time. They'd had several good, calm periods throughout the months but it seemed like they all too easily fell back into yelling at each other and while it had always grated on Matt's nerves it was especially troubling to him now.

"I packed", he said, and he had, the night before. He was settled as far as that went. He shrugged though, and the offer he made was tentative. "We could just head for a walk, later."

Not quite enough time to see sights before they needed to pack up and go through the motions at the airport, but Matt wouldn't mind just seeing what was around, the nearby areas. With Mohinder. He wasn't sure if it was a good idea for them to hang out but they both knew things were uneasy between them and maybe just doing something would soothe it a bit.

Besides, he figured it was a way for Mohinder to offer peace. He'd be stupid not to take it.

A bit of time to clear his head and read the newspaper was all Mohinder needed. He called one of his contacts at the university and then headed out to find Matt, peeking into the living room to find him seated on the couch, poking through a book. He watched him for a moment with a softer than usual smile and then cleared his throat.

"Ready?" There was only two hours before they would have to drive back to the airport but Molly was still out with his mother and they could just wander around a bit.

He didn't bother to try to talk mentally again. He cared for Matt but he would be hurt if he was shut out again. No one wanted that.

Mohinder did the guiding, pointing out old buildings and symbolism as they passed. India was a country of incredible colour and culture. And most of it likely went over Matt's head.

"When we visit next, I'll do a better job of showing you around."

"I'll do a better job of keeping up", Matt joked, because yeah - a lot of it went over his head, especially when he still wasn't listening in on Mohinder's mind. There were often little cues in people's heads, he'd started noticing, that sometimes added to the spoken message.

He hadn't joined his friend just for the hell of it though and did enjoy listening to Mohinder as he pointed things out and talked about his home. He had a soft tone for it. Probably equal parts nostalgia and familiarity.

"It's really different from the US. I bet you get homesick."

Just an observation. He'd never really considered before how different it must be for Mohinder, to have just settled down in New York after a life of ... well, all this.

"Strangely? No. Not really home sick at all. It might seem ridiculous to say, but I feel more at home in New York with Molly." The 'and you' was decidedly left off because it had caused problems before and that was not ever Mohinder's intention. Especially now. "I haven't really had all that much time at all to be homesick either. But busy with everything else."

Mohinder's gait was slow and controlled, hands behind his back save when he gestured. It was a comfort to be beside Matt again, though the capacity seemed strange. There was a wall he'd never encountered before and he realised that he missed the telepathic nudging at his thoughts from time to time, speaking to him as if he'd spoken first, even went that was far from the truth.

They ended up running into Molly as she jogged around the corner of the garden on their way back to the house. "Matt! Mohinder! It's almost time!"

She grabbed onto Mohinder's hand when he asked her what shed been doing. "It was a me and Grandma Suresh thing," she said, cheeky as always.

Matt grinned at her tone and held up his hands when she turned to him and said, "No peeking, Matt!"

He glanced very fleetingly at Mohinder but smiled fondly at their girl, saying simply, "Don't worry, I won't."

It was a bit of a rush after that with the usual last-minute double-checking of Matt's and Molly's pcaking, not to mention the passports and any other important items like money and ID cards. They'd pick up the tickets at the airport, so that was one less thing to worry about right then at least, and they piled into the car after saying their goodbyes to Zahra.

Mohinder got to drive. Molly was staring out the window a lot throughout the ride, but she kept rather close to Mohinder when they got out of the car and went towards the airport. It made sense, and her thoughts revolved around the three of them split up with a worrying undertone. Not any what-ifs, exactly. Just hoping they'd be okay without each other. She wasn't unhappy though, for the most part, was absolutely smiling - but the reluctance of letting go was very clear, especially when she practically clung to Mohinder when their flight was called.

"Promise you'll call!"

"Every single day," he promised, crouching down to hug the girl, dressed for the first time in western clothing. He nudged his nose into her hair and gripped her into a very tight hug. "I'll miss you, Ujala," he whispered. "You'll take care of him for me, right?"

Molly nodded fiercely and Mohinder smiled before he stood up. He gently handed over her massive elephant from his room, her carry on, just small enough to be allowed if she squished it.

He kissed the top of her head and then turned to Matt, not offering a hug or his hand. He would let Matt make the first move there but he figured they were still on awkward terms.

"Don't do take away every day. The new refrigerator will actually hold food," he teased. "Have a good flight all right? I'll call tomorrow."

They were on awkward terms because Matt couldn't quite look at Mohinder without flashing back to the dream, but he tried to keep it as far from his own thoughts as possible. He hesitated a moment and the indecision would probably show if you looked for it, but in the end, he didn't offer any kind of contact either.

And if he'd thought that'd actually make the whole thing less awkward, he was absolutely wrong.

"Yeah, don't worry." He answered with only half a smile before he put a hand to Molly's shoulder. The girl was looking between them. "Say hi to your mom again for us. See you in a few days."

He almost wanted to kick himself when they parted ways and Molly could probably tell from the way she was studying him, but she didn't say anything about that little display and Matt distracted her by talking about the new apartment and neighborhood.

It'd be a long few days, but maybe he wouldn't feel so damn fidgety at the end of them, and maybe he'd get the gently pleading matt out of his head.

He'd had better trips in the past, more important ones he'd thought at the time, but he'd never been so ready to leave India in his entire life... Not to attend Cambridge, not to find his father's killer. One little girl and a man he should not have feelings for was the catalyst for this particular exhibition. He'd kissed his mother goodbye with promises of phone calls and pictures of Molly regularly, an interview at New York University under his belt, and two phone interviews at high schools in Brooklyn to consider positions at if the former didn't go through.

Boarding a plane had never felt like such relief either. A week without his family was much too long but he felt, as he buckled himself in, that it was worthwhile. If he was lucky, seeing Matt again would be filled with a simple fondness and nothing more. And Molly could be his reason to keep going. Work would follow. Perhals research. And his life would be a happy one no matter what.

Having spoken to both Matt and Molly religiously since they'd left, Mohinder still was not expecting to come through customs to a massive sign with his name on it in glitter and markers and a little girl screaming: "there he is, Matt! Hold me up higher!"

He nearly stopped in his tracks before his eyes teared up. Any weariness he'd had left as he embraced them both.

"Let's go home."

It was an absolutely heartwarming group hug, so much like the one they'd had in an airport in a different country a week earlier. Molly was all laughs and hugs and words and Matt was quieter but no less warm when he looped an arm around Mohinder's shoulders and said over the girl's head, "Hey, welcome back."

He meant it. They'd both missed him.

Things had been fairly uneventful in New York. Thanks to Matt's gentle suggestions Molly's disappearance hadn't been scrutinized and she'd spent a lot of time enlightening the other kids in her class about India, and at home she was catching up on school work when she didn't pick out new things for her room. Not much had been added, but she'd found a few pictures and posters that Matt had dutifully put up.

Matt worked. He helped people. His head injury was healing up nicely and he'd peeled off the bandage. He cooked some and tried to help Molly with her homework and they were settling into a routine, but they'd been a trio for so long that it had always been quite obvious that Mohinder was missing.

They took a cab home. Molly couldn't quite stop tugging at Mohinder and pulled him into her room to show the additions as soon as she could, so Matt smiled fondly at the pair of them and went to put away Mohinder's bags and called at them, "What do you say we eat out tonight?"

"Like a celebration!" Molly called back, and Matt shrugged off his jacket with a grin.

Mohinder's credit cards were going to hate him after this but he couldn't say no to Molly. Her idea of celebrating was a chain restaurant that served unlimited spaghetti anyhow. None of that would break the bank too badly. Besides, watching her twirl around breadsticks and get dizzy on the sugar rush of too much soda was precious.

Mohinder wanted to take a shower but he was quick, dressing down in a dark turtleneck and light washed jeans. He looked unintentionally good, hair a bit ruffled and those horribly attractive glasses back on his face. The bruising around his eyes had gone down considerably and the lacerations around his mouth were missing too.

He sat across from Molly and Matt in the booth at dinner, eyes schooled on the girl alone and thoughts on the pasta selection, the salad, and how good it would be to... Oh right. Sleep on the floor. Oh well.

"Then you'll start on investigations again? Late shifts?" Molly was in her own little world coloring. "I have an interview tomorrow. Will you be able to get her from school?"

Oh, their credit cards would hate them both, but Matt had faith in the future. With a detective salary he'd earn his part back a lot sooner than he would have back in LA, and with what looked like a much steadier and better pay on the horizon for Mohinder, they'd be able to get back on their feet no problem.

And get beds, yeah. Matt smirked a little at the thought, no longer making an effort to keep out of Mohinder's head, not really thinking about how he had up until they left India.

"Yeah, I took care of that. Can't say when I'll be home after that, though. If you could get her to school on Wednesday, that'd be great."

The hours were unpredictable and the work very unforgiving, so it was very fortunate that Mohinder was back so they could make things easier on the girl. Matt had gotten her her own key, just in case (after talking about it with Mohinder on the phone on the second day) but they both preferred to pick her up and drop her off for now. She was young, she was special. Not to mention she was their little girl. The parental instincts were strong already, at least for Matt.

He looked at Mohinder a lot.

"Which place is it you're going to?"

The thought of Molly having to go home by herself to an empty house was worrisome but Mohinder knew that sometimes they might have to allow it. It still in served him but Molly was a tough girl. At least if he worked in academia, they'd be on the same schedule.

"That shouldn't be too difficult. I have an interview with the university," he grinned. "Should I miraculously get the position, I likely wouldn't start working until after the holidays. I'm going to keep up with the cab until I find out either way." Mohinder's savings were mostly depleted after all of the flights and the deposits on the flat. "Next week are the two high school positions."

Much less money for those but still better than having to work a cab ten hours a day and hope for good tips.

So glad that the awkwardness from India seemed to be gone, Mohinder focused on their future. On his legitimate job opportunities. On Molly and her happiness.

Packing up their left overs for the fridge and picking up a cake on the way home for dessert later, Molly insisted on holding each of their hands. What did it matter the way it looked? Mohinder didn't care.

Matt cared, but only insofar other people cared. He could hear the judgmental thoughts following them more often than the positive ones, and he found some dark amusement in pushing some nonverbal sharp jabs at anyone who dared think badly of the three of them. Nothing to actually hurt. Just a sense of watch your tongue.

Once home again there was some homework to be checked over, a bit of TV, some stories - Molly had a few from school that she was eager to tell Mohinder in person, and Matt mentioned something about a coworker, and they both listened to Mohinder as he told them a bit more about the positions he was hoping for and whatever he wanted to say about India or his mother.

Once it got late Matt made sure Mohinder was the one putting Molly to bed; they'd been apart too long to not let them share a few moments like that. After he'd hugged her goodnight himself he sat down at the kitchen table with some copies from the station, looking over them until Mohinder got back into the room, at which point he looked up with a fairly soft smile.

"Think we can manage to actually stay put this time?" he half-joked, twirling a pen between his fingers. After a beat he added, "Cups are on the drying rack, if you wanna make some tea or something."

Edited 2014-02-04 12:18 (UTC)

Though he'd been heading for the sofa, Mohinder decided to join Matt instead at the table. Tea sounded lovely after that heavy meal and he put on the kettle, eying the potential for the kitchen, the potential for this little apartment. "I'd like for, for a little while," Mohinder concluded. "Molly could use some stability and frankly, I'm more than willing to forgo a little bit of adventure in favour of a few nice evenings with some tea in front of the television."

He wasn't even slightly nervous about the morning. He was confident when it came to his own abilities and after the week before last, he'd grown confident in himself too. You don't just live through that and come out a shrinking violet. Five months ago he might have never believed in himself this way, but if he can jump out a wind, face a plague and survive lusting after a man that would never look at him that way while living with him, he can do anything.

"Oh, thanks for getting some mugs. And milk. I did a peek in the refrigerator, I'll admit, when I first got in." Cheeky, of course. Small talk beats around any bush as needed. And keeping one's eyes on hands or on objects is better than looking at the other man...

Distance, unfortunately, makes the heart grow fonder.

"Yeah?" Matt seemed amused, giving Mohinder a sideways look. "Do I pass the test? I bet you almost had a heart attack when you spotted the leftovers."

Turns out Matt isn't an inherently bad cook; just unimaginative and unmotivated. But after enlisting Molly as a sous chef and consulting some cook book they'd found half price at the grocery store they'd had some fun and wound up with very mixed results as far as actual meals went. At least one complete failure. The other times, half decent. Pizza, Molly had decided, should only be on weekends. Matt had told her she wasn't a normal child and she'd just smiled her sunny smile at him.

Ice cream she hadn't wanted to ban, though.

Backtracking a bit, Matt added, "I'm done with all this action too, at least when I'm not on duty. Did you hear what they're saying about Odessa? Apparently it's all a big conspiracy, you know. The government's trying to hide bio-terrorism." He looked up at Mohinder more properly, leaning his chin on a closed fist. "It's not too far off." Which was kind of ironic, really.

Look at him all you'd like, Matt. Mohinder's eyes stayed firmly on just about everything but his friend. Sipping tea frequently made this a little less difficult, however, but it would likely become noticeable. Mohinder sat back in his chair after he'd joked about thinking Molly had decided to take up cooking. There was less to joke about when it came to Odessa.

The media blackout hadn't quite worked in anyone's favour, they were just realising. Terrorism, especially in America, especially now, was just a bad thing all around to discuss. And the families of the victims-- Mohinder still didn't know what had happened to the survivors.

Was it cold of him not to?

He wondered about that for a moment before he slowly put his mug back down on the table.

"It's been a little over a week at least. There's no further outbreaks--" Or have there been? How would they ever know? Mohinder felt uncomfortable...and not just being around Matt now.

That ... worked out okay, given that Matt wanted to look and Mohinder not looking back meant he could study the man's face as much as he wanted. That made the fact that Mohinder was avoiding his eyes a little more clear, however. It made Matt uneasy. Was this what Mohinder had dealt with the last morning in India? No wonder he'd tried to ask what was wrong.

Not that Matt would. The topic of Odessa was a serious one and it deserved their attention.

"I don't think so. I mean, I'm pretty sure Bennet would've given us a call. Or Peter. I haven't heard anything from anyone. And honestly, right now? I like it that way."

He frowned now though, when he looked at his friend, something more like concern there.

That concern was mirrored on Mohinder's face too. He watched his thumbs as he held onto his mug at arm's length as it rested on the table and swallowed the bile threatening to bubble up in the back of his throat. "Why would Bennet call us?" And this time, he did look up at Matt, hoping he was just being paranoid, hoping that any insecurity he'd felt over being utterly useless at Odessa was just rearing it's head and nothing more. "What could we do?"

Other than be immune, there was little to be done. Noah didn't know about Matt's progression of his ability. Being a telepath was one thing. Being able to manipulate people was a whole different story.

Mohinder wasn't planning on letting anyone know about that, however. Matt had been bagged and tagged (literally) once before. Once was too much. Entirely too much.

His eyes softened to think about it, unable to make the conscious effort to do anything else.

"Even if he's not with the Company again... I've proven myself to be less than helpful. Not even Claire's blood will heal it. Besides, they have all of my research. I believe we'd never hear of it anyway."

True. Matt looked distant for a moment as he thought about it - but when he heard the soft concern for him in Mohinder's head, he looked back at him for a moment that probably felt longer than it was.

He remembered the stress of having woken up from it all, with memory loss and bruises on him, aches and marks he couldn't explain - and the knowledge that he was being tracked like an animal later ... yeah. No, not a process he wanted to go through again. It had been dehumanizing and scary and he felt touched and a little surprised that Mohinder would think about it right then. He hadn't listened close enough to hear the lead-up to that thought, so it caught him a little off guard.

Eventually he looked away, scratched at his hairline. "Maybe I could pull a few strings", he thought out loud. He meant commanding people, of course. It had become an option to consider very quickly in a lot of situations. "See what turns up. Even if they're covering the whole thing up there's got to be at least records of the preliminary investigations. Unless we just ... let it be for now." He looked a little torn; sighed when he again looked at Mohinder. "Would that be so bad?"

He just wanted out. Honestly. Wanted to be at peace for once with his family and he wanted to take down the Company as much as everyone else, but ... that game was played at a different level right now. Wasn't it?

Mohinder had convinced himself not to read into looks any more. It was a pointless quest and as soon as he took that firmly to heart, the awkwardness, he hoped, would end. Matt might not have cared for a few momentary or stray thoughts in the last few weeks, but he had stayed just the same. That was the mark of a good guy...and that made Mohinder crush even harder which in turn--

Was a perfectly good reason to shut it all down before it got too far.

Mohinder wet his lips and let his gaze fall to the table between them. "I want to say that I'd rather be left out of it," Mohinder said honestly. "And I do want to be left out of it...but for Molly's sake, perhaps you could see? If there's news of any other outbreaks-- We should know. If only to protect our family." Our family. He stressed it for a reason. "I'm done playing hero."

He drummed his fingers on the table briefly and then nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I'll keep an eye out. It's been all over the news, just FYI", he added. "They'll probably manage a story or two if it happens again before they're shut down."

He was silent for a moment longer, and then probably unexpectedly gave a short laugh, that voiceless kind that spoke of some level of incredulousness along with whatever humor there was to find.

"No, you know what, I'm not doing this. We're not talking about the apocalypse right now. We're talking about something else. Hey, how psyched are you about that interview, huh?"

It was a small rush of words, but they were genuine. He didn't like the heavy atmosphere the memories of Odessa gave both of them, didn't like the what-if even if he knew he'd have to consider it sooner rather than later, didn't like to see that troubled look on Mohinder's face. Would much sooner like to see him smile and talk about something that brought some life to his eyes.

Because ... yeah - Matt hadn't quite managed to stop thinking about him. He'd keep that fact close to his chest for now until he figured out what he wanted to do about it, or what they wanted to do about it, or how it'd be, or whatever, but he'd figured that there was something about Mohinder he really, really liked, and part of that was that stupid smile of his.

The abrupt change in pace made Mohinder blink over the mug he was just drawing to his mouth again and any hostility of fear melted from him in an instant. His nose wrinkled slightly and his dimples moved in, full force, putting his cheeks as he made full eye contact once again with Matt.

Good. Very good. The weight from his shoulders lifted by hands much stronger than his own changed his entire posture. He leaned forward, eager to engage, eager to have Matt's attention for something lighter. His shoulder dropped and he laughed.

"Psyched is a very good word," he concluded. "There's a subway stop on the way to Molly's school as well so getting her to and from would be incredibly easy. And she'd be certainly set for college. We ought to move the process along to legally adopt her," he mentioned. "If only so she can have access to your healthcare."

Why not discuss these things as if they were a couple? They already were, for all intents and purposes!

"I suppose we'd need to find a lawyer... But sticky, this situation."

Edited ( ) 2014-02-04 16:09 (UTC)

That was a lot more like it and Matt grinned in a way that would best be described as encouraging. He held that eye contact, angling himelf a bit forward as well, a subconscious gesture of interest.

He tilted his head slightly as the topic of adoption was brought up again. It had been talked about a few times before that, so the subject in itself was no problem - there was always just the idea of explaining.

'A bit sticky' was quite an apt description of the whole situation, really.

"Yeah. Tell you the truth? I can't ... not worry that some old aunt or grandfather twice whatever is going to crawl out of the woodwork and try to take her from us."

She didn't have anyone else, they both knew that. Through an unfortunate and seemingly unconnected series of incidents, all of Molly's close family were dead. But that didn't stop the thoughts. Any court would rule in favour of blood ties.

"I use to loose sleep about it," Mohinder said immediately. "But we've done the right thing. The money from her inheritance is locked into an account for her at eighteen. We provide for her completely without skimming anything." And Matt had a little bit of a persuasive personality these days. "We did our best looking for her relatives too. And if she wants to stay with us-- I'd like to think that she'd been allowed to do just that."

Of course, it played into Mohinder's fears of losing his family due to his own inability to hang onto them or some freak accident of personality that would drive them off. No matter the soothing Matt did towards him, there was always just a hint of worry--

It came with any relationship, no matter the intensity. Friendships could end just as easily as romances. With a child involved, it made him nervous.

"I simply try to remember to breathe," he confided. "When the anxiety creeps up." Like now. With Matt looking at him like that. Mohinder finished his tea and stood. "I think I ought to get to bed. I'm already horribly jetlagged and I want to do well tomorrow."

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