seekevolution | The Storm

That did so very little to assuage his fears, Matt really ought to have realised that, esspecially when Mohinder shifted to move himself away from the cooler and kneel somewhat expectantly in front of Matt. Big eyes lifted, he watched the larger man as if waiting for more information.

When nothing came, he leaned in, hand on Matt's other knee. Honestly, Mohinder had been in America long enough to know that men didn't touch each other that way. Then again, they'd been stealing clandestine kisses after Molly had been put to bed every single night since their first kiss in the kitchen.

Sometimes they even took a tumble in bed together, clothing all neatly kept in place, of course, but whether out loud or not, they were in a relationship of sorts and that allowed for that sort of touching, surely.

"About her adoption? Oh God, we ought to have stuck with you being her actual father--" he lamented.

"No, it's -" He dropped his hands to grab Mohinder's in a brief but hopefully soothing gesture, thumbs running over his knuckles before he let go. "It's not like that. Calm down. I would have done something about it otherwise, okay?"

What that something would have been he wasn't entirely sure but it didn't really matter. Mentally or not, he would have fixed that problem. He was sure. He was confident in his ability to. If he'd managed Odessa and Sylar, he could fend off a single mother with an over-active imagination.

At least Mohinder was easily pacified. He smiled at Matt, at the slightly calming gesture and relaxed. He assumed, incorrectly, that Jessie's mother just didn't care for the idea of a same-sex couple raising a child, but it didn't matter. What Mohinder didn't know in this case could affect him... Though he might have been flattered by Matt's possessiveness.

Their day at the beach could continue unimpeded by anyone else, starting with Mohinder insisting on reapplying sunscreen to the back of Matt's neck and shoulders. "Much too pink," he proclaimed. "I hardly need you getting skin cancer because you're jealous of my tan," he joked stupidly, rubbing the lotion into Matt's skin in entirely too wonderful a way.

Molly was happy. They were happy. The sand was warm, the water was cool...and they all had each other.

After burying Matt in the sand and one more session in the water, however, it was time to pack up and go. And not a second too soon, either. The sun was still high in the sky but Molly was yawning something feirce.

All in all, a successful day. The incident with Margaret was pushed far back into Matt's mind as they all went back to having fun and there was that calm content feeling again when they walked back to the car, Molly between them and holding each of their hands.

She looked a bit like she might fall asleep in the backseat once they pulled out onto the road again, but looked expectantly at Mohinder when Matt shot him a sideways smile.

"So how did you like the beach?"

Matt hadn't had that much fun in months, personally, and felt a lot happier from the experience. He looked it too, elbow resting on the open car window, sunglasses on to shield from the sun coming down on them and the easy smile in place as he kept his eyes (mostly) on the road.

"'Cause I think there's hope for you yet, Suresh."

Mohinder never had that much fun, not once. Today had everything a good day needed, he'd already decided, and though Molly had a little bit of a burn on the tops of her feet (how had he missed that?) and there was a bout of misunderstanding with Matt that had been easily cleared up, Mohinder wanted nothing at all about it to change.

"Today was perfect," he confirmed. "Just don't let me look at a mirror." His hair was dreadful...in sort of a beautiful way. Even so, it might break the teeth off of combs or swallow wrist watches should any make their way near him.

The mood in the car on the drive home was sleepy and with Molly quiet in the backseat, curled around her oversized beach towel, Mohinder slipped his hand onto Matt's thigh just to have that sort of connection with him. His thoughts were a happy muddling of at least three languages which tended to mean that he was tired too.

Thank you, he sent to Matt, gazing affectionately at the older man, as if there could be nothing on the horizon to spoil these moments.

Matt lifted is free hand to run through his hair, seemingly a bit self conscious when he glanced back at Mohinder, but he was smiling. Yeah. You're welcome.

Once home things continued in that sleepy but quietly happy manner. During the last few weeks some more pieces of furniture had actually made their way into the apartment, making it look less like a temporary place to stay and more like a home, even if they still had a lot more to add.

The tasks were a mix between putting things back in their places, picking out something light to eat for dinner and engaging Molly, because if she fell asleep now she'd be up before four am and Matt was pretty sure neither he nor Mohinder wanted that. She watched some cartoons and drew in her coloring books before they ate and after that they all played a game of Scrabble, with Matt and Molly teaming against Mohinder since it just seemed more fair that way.

Molly was perking up again but when they did send her to bed she didn't protest, just hugged them both, accepted their kisses and was asleep after just a few minutes.

Matt was leaning on the door frame, watching her with a small smile on his lips and his arms crossed in that lazy way when he looked at Mohinder. He was feeling such a wave of fondness and affection for both of them. They'd been as close to an ordinary, non-special family that day as they were ever likely to be, and it felt great. Normal. Easy.

"She's amazing, isn't she?" he said out loud after a moment, over the distant voices of the news reporters. The TV was still on in the background.

This scene would never stop Mohinder's heart from fluttering. He smiled, watching Matt with Molly. Mohinder got so many nights with the girl that he never minded giving Matt alone time with Molly. She needed them both for different reasons after all and quality time together should never be squandered.

"She is amazing," he agreed. Mohinder crossed from the kitchen where he'd been washing ice cream bowls and spoons up to the doorway where Matt watched Molly, a few scant steps. He took there a moment to watch her too before he leaned across Matt to grip the knob and pull the door shut.

They stood facing one another and Mohinder's arms curled around Matt's neck as he stood on his toes to kiss him firmly. You are amazing too, he directs a thought, Matt's back shoved perhaps a little uncomfortably against the jam so that the Indian could do naughty, amazing things with his tongue inside of Matt's mouth.

He's just about to tug Matt's shirt up when the faint voice from the television mentions something about over three hundred people admitted to the hospital, all of whom had spent the day at Coney Island. Fevers, sudden collapses--

Mohinder pulls back as if Matt burned him, eyes wide.

Oh, he didn't mind. Between the two of them there were barely any hangups left, at least when it came to this, and Matt wasted no time taking Mohinder's face in his hands to kiss back just as firmly. He opened his mouth easily to the younger man's tongue, head tilting for a better angle, just about to sneak his fingers into his hair when he suddenly pulled back.

Matt stared at him, frowning. "What?"

But the answer came quickly as Mohinder's thoughts were spiking with worry-maybe-panic and Matt whipped around to stare at the TV, hands falling to Mohinder's arms. Holding on, in a way.

Shit, this couldn't be happening again. No way.

He pulled Mohinder with him to the living room where he grabbed the remote and upped the volume, the reporter speaking frantically without really knowing what was going on. It made sense. These were still mostly local news. But no doubt would a connection be drawn to Odessa -

Coney Island?

Matt wanted to punch something. He threw the remote onto the sofa.

"We have to go", he said darkly, searching Mohinder's eyes. Hoping he'd say no, maybe, but not at all expecting it.

There was not exactly a 'no' coming from Mohinder's mouth, but there's not a 'yes' either. "Molly," Mohinder said immediately. They couldn't leave her. Not both of them. She'd never accept another trip to India, not now after all the rest of it, but Coney Island was less then ten miles from them. The two hospitals the people had been taken to?

One was within walking distance.

Mohinder itched. They could be caught up in this again, trapped again... "We have to get as far away from here is possible--" Mohinder knew already that there was nothing he could do for this. The outbreak was beyond him. He found markers for immunity, markers for the loci the virus latched onto in a person's cells, but that was it. "I'm going to put our bags together, get Molly up and--"

He was interrupted by the phone buzzing on the table, dancing around merrily like oil on a hot plate. He drew closer to Matt for a moment. He wanted to be told to ignore the call...but they both knew he couldn't.

Mohinder answered on the very last ring, breathless and afraid. "Hello--"

"Suresh, we need you at Beth Israel." Bennet. "We're setting up a new lab for you." Mohinder pinched the bridge of his nose and glanced again at Matt. Take Molly and go.

Yeah. Molly. Even if Matt and Mohinder had managed the last outbreak there was no guarantee they would this one, and although Molly had managed that first - second? - strain thanks to Mohinder's blood ... this was a new one, right? It could be different from the last one. Why else would it have taken this long for it to spread? Could have been a new attempt.

Phone. Who? Matt mouthed, a darkness in his eyes, but at the mental request slash command he wasted no time, grabbing the backpack he'd had at the beach and quickly gathering things as he thought of them. Wallet, badge, gun, keys, phone, charger.

He shot Mohinder another look before he disappeared into their daughter's room to wake her. He slowed down, though. Stroked her hair. "Hey, sweetheart. Wake up. We have to go."

Molly was depressingly ready and alert when she was told that kind of thing. She didn't even really ask about it, not yet, she just nodded and sat up and got dressed, mutely. Sadly. It broke Matt's heart.

She was thinking how she didn't want to. Matt blocked it out, had to be practical, but he took her hand in what he hoped was a reassuring gesture when he went back out into the living room.

"Who was it?" he asked again, looking Mohinder over. They needed to at least touch ground. Know where they were going to go, in case they couldn't get a hold of each other any other way. Molly seemed scared but wary, looking between the two men.

"It was Noah Bennet." He could easily have told Matt these things in the silence, looking into his eyes, paler brown than he own, and spared their daughter. But sparing Molly was not something that could happen any more. She was special and that small quality was what was going to hurt her in the long run if she remained ignorant of it. It'd already hurt her after all, simply because she was not prepared.

Mohinder didn't need to read minds to see the distress on Matt's face and he accepted it as easily as he had accepted that Matt could enter his dreams, could read his thoughts, could command men to do anything he wished for them to do.

"It's another confirmed outbreak of Shanti. I'll be heading down to Beth Israel Hospital to help contain it." If we can. No. Out loud. "If possible. I've immunity so far, there's no need to worry about me. But you need to get out of New York. Go north...go... I don't care where. No where near the airports though. People will panic the moment they equate this with Odessa. I'm sure the media blackout is going to happen any moment now."

Mohinder swallowed, his throat thick with emotion and worry.

He wanted to go with them...but he couldn't. His service, in exchange for his family-- That was the unspoken deal. Mohinder's eyes were liquid.

"I'll keep my phone charged. If...the towers go down, and they might-- I'll.. I'll find you."

And that's when Molly shuddered, something that could be clearly seen in her entire being when she broke away from Matt to run up to Mohinder and throw herself at him, hugging close, desperately. "Please don't go", she pleaded, but her voice was low and already broken from the knowledge that he had to. She was a child but she'd seen enough to understand cruelty and its habit of tearing people apart. But understanding didn't mean acceptance. She sobbed, burrowed into his shirt. "Don't make us go away, we ... we have to stay together ..."

Matt swallowed, locking eyes with Mohinder over her head, and something was breaking in his own expression as well. But he rubbed a hand over his eyes and nodded. Facts. Facts first.

"We'll find you", he said. The unspoken fact was that they could. Molly could. They wouldn't take lightly on this, but if they were separated, Molly could reunite all of them. "We'll call every few hours, we'll ... don't let them lock you down." He said that seriously. "Don't let Bennet boss you around. He needs you just as much as you need him or else he wouldn't drag your ass out there. Okay?"

Just - their history. Their recent history. Bennet was a manipulative bastard, but Matt knew he came through in tough situations.

Molly was listening, still clinging to Mohinder, hearing the unspoken uncertainties between her fathers. Hated them. Was scared to death of them.

"Yes, that's right. You'll find me. Every day and every night, just think about me and you'll know that I'm all right." Mohinder bent after some effort to kiss Molly on her head and gather her into his arms. "You listen to Matt and don't let him tell you pizza is an acceptable food every night. Don't worry about school either. They'll cancel for a few days at least. We cleaned up Odessa in a week. It'll be fine, you'll come back and maybe summer holiday will get moved but-- But you'll be absolutely fine."

He stroked her hair back from her face.

"Go and get your elephant, Molly."

He just needed one more moment with Matt. Just one. And some moments are not for children to see. She slumped off with a sigh, sluggish perhaps because she understood why she was being sent back to her room, and Mohinder wasted no time in kissing Matt one more time.

"No matter what happens, don't bring her back until you hear from me."

There was no more time after that. Matt had to go. They'd be separated again. There was no mention, on the news, that the bridges, the subway, the train and all of the tunnels had already been closed. Matt and Molly were getting no where.

Matt's answering kiss was short but fierce. I won't. He didn't need to say it out loud - it was all over his face even if it hadn't been clear in his head. In Mohinder's.

He gathered Molly in his arms, elephant and all, after she'd gotten a last hug and whispered reassurance from Mohinder. Then they left. She got to ride up front in the car (thank god for cars issued to the police force) and she was silent, eyes out the window, dejected and scared.

It was late enough that not many cars were out. Matt drove fast, talking to Molly after a while; telling her that if she had any questions, he'd answer them. He told her the basics. That the same thing that had made her sick back in November was now making a lot of other people very sick, very very fast. That that's another thing him and Mohinder had been trying to clear up before they came to get her.

She asked a little, but not much. But when she asked, "Won't they try to keep us here?" something Matt had considered but hadn't really been hit with full force until it was spoken with Molly's young and all too tired voice, he couldn't bring himself to give a good answer.

She was right, of course. The bridges were closed. But they were the best bet if they were going to get anywhere. He could get past road blocks, but if measures were in place to take them down if they tried -- he couldn't mind control people shooting at a distance.

He remembered Odessa. The many people lying dead, and not all of them from the disease.

Matt grit his teeth, swore, and dialled Mohinder's number.

"Matt, please, we can't--" Mohinder said once he picked up, already being ushered towards a clean room he honestly had no need of. It was everyone that needed it, however, but protocol was protocol. He stopped dead in his tracks and his little entorage of Company provided operatives and doctors stopped with him. "Oh God, please tell me she's not showing symptoms."

It took almost half a minute of talk for Matt to confirm their girl was all right before Mohinder could bring himself to breathe again. He sighed against the receiver and carried on with the walk. At least, of course, until Matt said that all bridges and tunnels had been closed, all mass transit had stopped.

And that there was nothing on the radio about any of it.

Mohinder cursed in Hindi and turned back towards Bennet. "I want to tell you to come here but... Matt, I don't know Molly's immunity levels. I don't even know if this is the same strain yet. I'll call you in an hour. I need a sample of her blood. Can you bring it to me? There should be a blood kit under the sink-- Don't ask. Old habits."

"Gotcha", Matt said and snapped his phone shut, mind reeling. He wasn't sure how to feel about any of this. It would be safer to leave, he knew that logically, get everybody out, including Mohinder. If this was turning into Odessa all over again it wouldn't be long before they had riots and violence on their hands and that was something they couldn't rely on any eventual immunity for. And as Odessa had already happened ... one could imagine the panic would start a lot sooner here.

Molly looked at him uncertainly and she didn't look calmed when he told her they were going back home. "We need to figure out how safe you're gonna be, sweetheart", Matt told her in a somewhat tense voice. "Mohinder needs a blood sample."

"What about you?" she asked and Matt nodded, made a mental note to ask that when Mohinder called (he was keeping an eye on the time, if an hour passed and there'd been nothing you bet he'd be calling himself). Ask about the possibility of a new strain. Maybe they all needed to re-test.

Yet another reason to leave. Damn it.

At the same time, he was relieved that they were all together right now. That was the most important thing after staying alive. Sticking together.

The drive home was fast and Matt found the blood kit where Mohinder had said. He wasn't sure how to handle it exactly but from her time with the Company Molly had had her blood drawn plenty of times and they figured it out together.

He kissed her hair when the phone did ring before he stood to answer, and the first words out of his mouth were, "I've got the blood. Are we sure this is the same virus?"

If the task was to bring her blood into the hospital - yeah. (And how little he wanted to leave her, even if he knew he might have to. That was something else to potentially bring up.) Mohinder had hopefully managed to check by now.

Hearing Matt's voice was like Christmas and Mohinder took the time to sink into a chair and rub a hand over his face. "Same strain," Mohinder said softly. "Please tell me you got home all right. They're pulling the same mess here. I'm under guard again." Of course, Mohinder did understand it was for his own protection. There were very angry men and women in the waiting room. Especially since doctors and nurses started to wear protective suits.

Panic. Panic was palpable. Mohinder, however, was much too tired to panic.

"Bring me Molly's samples and my glasses will you? And... And when this is over, I demand you rip off all of my clothes as soon as we can find a sitter for Molly."

That was a relief, at least. Meant Matt knew he was going to be fine, that neither him nor Mohinder would die on their little girl. At least not from the virus. He thought that meant that the chance of her being immune was a good one too, and although he didn't want to be hopeful exactly, he was cautiously optimistic beneath the tension he still felt.

... and then came that entirely unexpected comment that had Matt's mind blanking for a short moment. He licked his lips.

"Sure", he said, trying to sound casual since he knew Molly was watching him despite the fact that he was turned away from her. He wished telepathy worked over distances. Send back an appropriate response. "Yeah, I can do that."

He hung up shortly after that, then turned to embrace Molly. For a long while. She needed to know that they wouldn't let anything happen to her or to each other and he hated that he had to leave her, even if only for a while.

He had her search for the requested glasses while he had a quick change of clothes. He'd have to mind control a lot less if he was Detective Parkman rather than just Matt, and in case anything broke out he wanted to be armed.

I love you, he thought with all the warmth and certainty he could muster, hugging her close again after she gave him Mohinder's glasses and he handed her the spare phone. "If there's anything at all", he said, letting it hang clearly in the air.

She nodded and lowered her head.

The TV was dead by now. She went to find her Atlas and was holding it close to her chest when Matt left.

The roads were still not that busy but he was anticipating them to fill up by morning. It wasn't that late yet, so they had several hours to try to handle the situation. Hopefully they'd manage.

There was almost nowhere to park by the hospital. Big surprise there. He walked the last bit, jogged really, and made his way through the crowd inside with the kind of decisiveness that's helped something immensely by looking harsh and wearing a suit (sans tie, because who cared?) and the moment he spotted someone official looking, grabbed a hold of them.

"Where's Doctor Suresh?"

"He's in the quarantine area," the exhausted looking woman told Matt without a fight. She had on an ID badge, a hospital administrator, likely an assistant to one. She pointed towards the back elevators. "Take those to the fourth floor." She didn't bother to tell him that the guards likely wouldn't let him out of the elevator and as Matt took off towards the lifts, she coughed and caught herself against the wall.

The fourth floor looked exactly as the hospital in Odessa had looked, covered in plastic, manned by armed guards in bio-hazard suits and filled with a parade of people that looked like they were coming out of a science fiction film.

It took a little bit of Matt's particular talents, honestly, to get at the frazzled professor. Mohinder looked up as Matt entered and smiled, relieved. He waved the others away and went to his...boyfriend? "Matt. Thank God you made it. I don't understand how this happened. It's the exact same strain."

Mohinder couldn't exactly launch himself at the other man, but he could take his hand...even if it was just to take the vial of Molly's blood.

Matt didn't let the touch of hands linger long, but only because he was quick to raise his hand to Mohinder's arm instead. He looked to where the last few people were in the other end of the room before he touched his forehead to Mohinder's, just for a second, but there was very real affection in the gesture and he kept his eyes to the other man's when he let go of him and took half a step back.

"Where's Bennet?" he asked in a voice that was a lot sharper than he'd intended. "What's he saying?"

It stood to reason that he'd know something, since he'd been so damn quick to call Mohinder to the scene. Matt didn't like it. There were about a million things about this situation he didn't like, but he felt relieved to see Mohinder this close again.

"I've yet to see him," Mohinder replied, wanting to keep Matt as close as possible. They've had no deaths yet, but they will in a few hours. Fevers are running through children especially fast and their parents seem to be getting sick soon after. The outbreak isn't centred on any one thing, it's just what the media had grasped onto since so many fell sick at the amusement park at the same time. From what Mohinder sees, however, it might have started at the airport and...

And that's very, very bad.

"We'll find him together, I just--" He needed the vial. Mohinder had already guaranteed fifteen people on his team, the vast network of men and women running around on this floor getting samples and running easy testing, were immune, or at least possessed the gene to give them a better chance at not contracting the virus.

That was not, however, good news. The percentage might be a little better than in Odessa but with at least a ninety-two percent mortality rate-- He was afraid.

Running Molly's blood through the testing left him even more drained than before, however, dropping his face into his hands with his shoulders hunched. He looked upset but in reality, he was relieved.

Her markers are the exact same as mine. And as yours... I have no idea what-- But then it dawned on him and he blinked up at Matt, mouth opening. "Blood transfusions. Prior to this strain! That's it!" It would help no one that hadn't gotten his, or another immune person's blood, before contracting the virus, however. "It doesn't just stop the virus from lingering, it outright kills it. That's remarkable!"

Matt pressed a hand to the spot right between Mohinder's shoulder blades while he worked, a quiet reassurance that he was not going anywhere, at least not yet. Not until they'd both agreed to. He was thinking of Molly, just as tense as Mohinder was when he looked her blood over, and for a single shattering moment he was really, really scared when the other man fell into himself that way. It looked like defeat.

But then there was the glorious relief in his thoughts, buzzing with stunned excitement and Matt latched onto that, breathed out, moved his hand down Mohinder's back.

Blood transfusions-? He knew Molly had gotten one, but he himself-

except way back. Way back only not at all long ago when he'd taken four bullets and Mohinder had been one of the only people there.

"So- so what does that mean?" He asked it with a certain urgency now, trying to keep even pace with Mohinder's mind. "What now?"

"It means I have something to synthesis. It means I not only have a potential cure isolated but a delivery system too!" Of course, those sorts of things took years to perfect and administering drugs required trials and... It's interesting but they don't have time. People here were going to die.

Mohinder couldn't reverse that. He couldn't even make them medically more comfortable unless he induced coma. That was not his call, however. He was a geneticists. A virologist. Medicine was beyond him.

"It's going to get very bad. Very quickly. Molly-- she should come here. And... I know this is ridiculous to say but we might do well with some supplies."

He'd been watching too many dooms day scenario programs while Molly was at school and Matt at work.

"Right. What, food, water? Power tools?"

It was a halfway joke, but unfortunately everything had a serious undertone. When they'd shut down Odessa, they'd had most things still. They couldn't count on that this time even if it was unlikely they'd shut the entire island down unless they planned to kill everybody on it.

But 'supplies' was a general word, especially when you were talking to someone who had a tendency to think in terms you didn't quite understand. If Mohinder needed something particular, he'd do well to say it upfront.

Although at that thought Matt withdrew to take out the other man's glasses from his pocket, holding them out.

"I'll get Molly. Just tell me what else we need, I'm on it."

Mohinder held up just one finger and went back to his work station to find something to write with. It took some time and he ran about like a spastic yearling. Endearing, perhaps, if time was not of the essence. By the morning, people would notice how wrong everything was. News shows would not be on and stations would be simply crammed with reruns to compensate for dead air. Stores would be over run. Riots would start. Rush hour... Oh God, he didn't even want to think about rush hour.

Mohinder's hand was steady, however, as he listed items for Matt to go and get. It was nearly nine. That meant stores would be closing very shortly. "Flashlights. Batteries. A lot of batteries." He also wrote down sleeping bags and other assorted gear like chemical stoves and matches, lighters...knives. Good multi-tools. "You'll want to look for light food items. Things in plastic or pouches, not cans. Things with large shelf lives. Tuna pouches, peanut butter, crackers. No soups. And headache medicines..."

Mohinder handed over the list with a somewhat desperate sigh.

"I'm going to get a space set up for us here." He ought to be working on this issue, on the virus, but it was absolutely clear that he himself thought it was a lost cause. "Bring anything Molly might need. And hurry."

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