2007-09-28: Troubled Pancakes

Starring:

Mohinder_icon.gif Molly_icon.gif

Summary: After getting the calls and updates from Hartsdale, Mohinder is troubled and tells Molly about what happened.

Date It Happened: September 28th, 2007

Log Title Troubled Pancakes


Suresh's Apartment

Late Saturday night, early Sunday morning, the 9-1-1's start going out to Company employees. Seeing as he was at home in Brooklyn at the time, Mohinder could only check messages, and stay put. Ineffective in an emergency like this, it's best he stay put. That, and Molly needs him and Matt nearby. The geneticist has been keeping his Company issue gun holstered and on him all night. Not a wink of sleep to be had. So it's probably no surprise that early on Sunday morning, definitely earlier than usual, there's the smell of breakfast coming from the kitchen. Pancakes it smells like.

Having slept through the entire ordeal, completely unaware of anything to do with what happened in Hartsdale or with the facility she visited so often with Mohinder, Molly slowly rolls out of her room. Rubbing her eyes and yawning, she's still in her pajamas - a pair of fuzzy plaid pants and a t-shirt with superheros on them. Smelling the food cooking, she immediately heads for the kitchen. "Pancakes?" she says hopefully, though still sleepily.

Mohinder turns at the sound of Molly emerging from her room. The girl is given a very tired smile, it's clear he has been up for quite some time. "Of course. Do you want anything else to go with them?" He's already working on piling up a plate for the girl.

Clambering up into a chair, Molly watches Mohinder as he prepares the breakfast, taking in his tired smile. Though still all mussed up from sleep, she can still tell something is going on. Mohinder's easy to read. "Powdered sugar and strawberries?" she's questioning, trying to figure out where she can take this. "Is something wrong?"

Mohinder laughs. "Let's see what we have.." He makes a show of raiding the fridge for several moments before he does retrieve strawberries. Already washed, sliced and ready for placement on pancakes. There's already butter and syrup on the table, so the strawberries are placed alongside them. The powdered sugar is also produced and sprinkled on the plate of pancakes.. which are slid in front of Molly. "Do you want milk or orange juice?" He doesn't answer, just yet.

If Mohinder isn't going to answer, then neither will Molly. Though whether she's going to have milk or orange juice really isn't as important as her question in the scheme of things. Her eyes track the movement of those strawberries and sugar, but there's no cutesy smile or thanks just yet. "You didn't answer me. Something's wrong, isn't it? What happened?" Mohinder's not one to just keep things from her.

Seeing as he doesn't get an answer, Mohinder simply fills up a glass of milk for Molly. Pouring one for himself, he gets his own plate as well before sitting down next to the girl at the table. His silence thus far is thoughtful, one Molly might recognize as him debating on how to phrase what he's about to say.

"There was a fire last night in Hartsdale. I don't have many details this morning. Emergency calls went out very late." Mohinder lets that sink in for a few moments before he adds, "Preliminary reports state that Sylar was part of it. I've been waiting for more information this morning. Mara is going to be with us for a little bit to help keep you safe."

"I was going to say orange juice." The young girl eyes the glass of milk set in front of her but doesn't take a sip from it just yet. Your mind reading needs work, Suresh! Take lessons from Daddy Parkman. "Was he after me?" Her voice is soft and a little bit tinny. Forgive her self-centeredness, but every other time there has been a Sylar attack, she's been in the center of it.

Mohinder gets up from his seat and fills a juice glass of OJ for Molly, which he sets down in front of her. "There's no word on that. Last night, he seemed to have his sights set on people that were being held in custody indefinitely. While he worked on that, another escaped person was behind the fire. Several people were killed, more were injured." He doesn't think Molly's question is self-centered, not at all. It's a valid question and concern. "But just to be on the safe side, we'll be keeping an extra close eye on you, Molly. We don't know where they disappeared to. Sylar, and the escaped prisoners. They're all dangerous, so if Matt and I are extra protective of you, this is why. This is also why Mara will be spending more time around us the next few days."

Now Molly has both OJ and milk. Excellent. All without having to get up from her chair. The idea of more bad people out on the streets - more people like Sylar - that's not a comforting thought. It's nothing that pancakes is going to quell. Even if she knows Mohinder is trying. "Why won't he ever go away?" Why won't they all go away? Why does this keep happening?

Mohinder shakes his head as he tucks into his plate of pancakes. He's not exactly hungry, but he does need to eat. "I don't know Molly. Someone like him, needs to be locked away forever, carefully contained.. or simply dead." It's not like Mohinder to wish someone dead, but Sylar is a rare exception. "Other people with abilities, they're contained easier than he is. Some of the people he let out had been detained for years."

Though Molly pushes around the pancakes on her plate in the powdered sugar and strawberries, she doesn't eat anything. Suddenly she's not really hungry. Maybe she will be later, but for now it's just going to move around. When it's someone like Sylar, she would agree with them being killed or locked up. Moodily, she looks into her cup of juice. "So all we can do is hide in here?" That seems to be all her life has been lately. Hiding.

Mohinder doesn't miss that Molly's not eating. Looks like the tantalizing aroma and taste of pancakes wasn't enough to distract from bad news. "Just for the moment Molly. Sylar probably has more on his mind than tormenting a girl, but we can't take the chance. For now, I don't plan on keeping you home from school tomorrow.. but for today? Stay close to me, Matt or Mara."

"This apartment is getting too many Ms," Molly says moodily. It's not that she's not grateful for their protections or anything. It's just that she was so happy to get out of Kirby, to start to be able to do things normally again that this is a huge drawback. It's a good thing that she named her chinchilla Nicodemus. "He never actually does anything," she says of Sylar. "He finds me, he knows where he is…but he doesn't kill me." Not that she's complaining, of course. Deciding to just give up on even pretending to eat, she shoves the plate away from her and picks up her glass of orange juice. "I guess I'll just stay inside." She won't even have to change out of her PJs.

Mohinder offers a small smile across at Molly for the moody comment. The smile is short lived, "No.. He doesn't. What he does to you might be worse. He's robbing you of your childhood, and frightens you. The mental damage is worse." Which isn't to say really that he'd have the girl dead. Not at all. He watches as the plate is pushed away.. the pancakes can be reheated later if she gets hungry. It'll be a treat to have them later in the day, right? "We'll find something to do. A game on the computer.. or maybe if things stay quiet, he'll probably want to lay low.. we'll go somewhere."

"It's not like I was ever going to be normal." The girl isn't really in an optimistic mood at the moment and Mohinder's smile isn't going to help right now. Maybe this mood will past by the afternoon and the pancakes can still be salvaged. "I guess," is all she replies to what they could do today. Slumping down in the kitchen chair, she sighs and just holds onto that glass without drinking from it.

"I know Molly, but we want your life to be as normal as possible." Mohinder says, pushing his own plate aside. "Matt and I realize that you are anything but a normal girl, but that doesn't stop us from wanting to make an attempt at letting you be a child. I've said it before and I'll say it again. You've been given adult worries and fears at far too young an age and it's not fair." How does a child who can find /anyone/ have a stab at feeling normal?

"But it's not normal." There's nothing she can do about the fact that she can find people when she thinks about them. "I'm not normal." He's already beaten her to the punchline on that one, though. "I'm sick of all the pretending."

Mohinder gets up from his seat and walks around so that he can kneel in front of Molly. "I know you are. It's a lot that has been asked of you.. but you understand why you have to pretend." It's not a question really. She's seen the operations inside the Company. "Not many people understand what it's like to be different, or can begin to understand about abilities and gifts."

Molly doesn't look directly at Mohinder when he moves to kneel in front of her. She's got her girl pout on and it's going to take quite a bit to drag her out of it. "But there are others like me. People like the boogieman don't hide what they are." Why is it easier to be a bad guy than it is to be a kid?

Mohinder puts himself on eye level with Molly, even if she's not looking directly at him. "Maybe someday you won't have to hide who you are. The people who go around, using their abilities.. they don't care what others think. They're no different from the villains in your comic books. Because they have an ability, they're better. They hold it over the heads of those who don't. They use their abilities to threaten, to frighten. Having an ability is a responsibility." He raises his hands to place against Molly's cheeks, to try and get her to look at him. "The majority of the population already would not know what to do or think about people who are special."

There's little Molly can do to not look at Mohinder without just pushing his hand away. She's not quite that far pouty yet. Big blue eyes meet dark brown ones. She doesn't look like she's about to cry or break down, instead, she's just as tired as Mohinder looked when she found him in the kitchen. "I know," she sighs. And perhaps she does. "I'm fine with being different." So it's just everyone else that has to start to be okay with it.

Mohinder rises up enough so that he brings his arms around Molly in an affectionate hug. "I know you are, and I know you're tired. We all are. Hopefully soon, you won't have to worry about Sylar ever again." Which isn't to say that there are other worries around the corner.

Hugging Mohinder, Molly doesn't move from her chair. She's careful of the orange juice as she wraps one arm around the Indian man and just nods in response to that. They thought she would never have to worry about Sylar ever again before and that didn't really work out the way that they planned. They'll just have to hope that the second time it will take. "I hope so."

Mohinder places a kiss on top of Molly's head before releasing her. "Look on the bright side, all the tv and video games you want today." He smiles tightly as he stands, "We'll play security by ear. I'm fairly sure that Sylar might want to lay low, but I'm not so sure about those that escaped. If things stay quiet, we might go to the zoo."

Wrinkling her nose, Molly tries not to give in to Mohinder's mood. It's hard, though. "You hate video games. And most TV." He always thinks there's better way to spend time. "I hope they do." It would be nice to have things stay quiet while outside.

There normally is a better way to spend the time.. but today could count as a special occasion. Mohinder starts cleaning off the table, putting pancakes away to be heated later. "I think it should be fine today. I don't know what time Mara will be arriving, so why don't you go ahead and get presentable?" He's going to clean while waiting. His mind just isn't able to focus on work at the moment, and the apartment has been a bit neglected.

"Fiiiine." Molly's still a bit in her mood, but she'll listen for now. Sliding off her chair, she takes her juice with her. Maybe she'll be thirsty while getting presentable. Padding back to her room, she starts the process of getting dressed and getting ready for the rest of the day.

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