out_there | Heroes fic: Unexpected

Title: Unexpected
Fandom: Heroes
Pairing: Matt/Mohinder
Spoilers: Set after 2.07 "Out of Time".
Rating: G
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Notes: Sequel to The Lack of Surprise. Thank you to

ainsley for encouraging me and convincing me that I wasn't failing (even though it felt like I was). Thank you to

storydivagirl for betaing.

Summary: The door opened and there stood Mohinder, bleary eyes and jaw darkened by stubble, white shirt creased and crumpled. "The locks haven't been changed yet," he said gently, stepping inside and closing the door behind him.

He lied about Mohinder. Said he was working late, that he'd be very busy, that they might not see much of him for a while. It was easy to get Molly downstairs and hail a cab. ("I thought you ordered one," she said, sharp as ever. "Got cut off," Matt lied again, and then asked what she wanted for dinner.)

"Will he have to start traveling again?" Molly asked and Matt replied, "We don't know yet, honey," and tried to remember that excuse for later.

After deciding that some games -- like Go Fish, Uno and Monopoly -- are only fun with three people, they played Ludo and Mouse Trap with cartoons playing in the background. Molly liked the Japanese ones full of big eyes, big hair and weird card-fighting monsters. Matt preferred the reruns of Roadrunner and Bugs Bunny. They both enjoyed the Flintstones, so Matt used that as an excuse to stop playing and eat.

Molly fell asleep on the couch, proving that spending fourteen hours trapped in someone else's nightmare was tiring. Matt woke her up -- had to be sure she was only sleeping -- and then carried her to bed. With the covers tucked around her shoulders, she still looked frighteningly pale but he brushed her hair back from her forehead and listened to the familiar nonsense hum of normal dreams.

He closed her door behind him and then cleared the empty Chinese containers and packed away the games. There was nothing else to do except go to bed. He'd been up for over thirty hours, and knew he should get some sleep, but crawling into an empty bed was the last thing he wanted to do. Instead, he sat on the couch. Resting his head in his hands, he wondered if changing the locks was really necessary.

He must have fallen asleep because the sound of the lock clicking woke him up. He was on his feet -- gun out, aimed and ready -- as the handle turned.

The door opened and there stood Mohinder, bleary eyes and jaw darkened by stubble, white shirt creased and crumpled. "The locks haven't been changed yet," he said gently, stepping inside and closing the door behind him.

"You came home," Matt heard himself say stupidly. Not knowing what else to do, he sat back down.

"I did." Mohinder dropped his keys on the table, then came over to the couch and sat beside him. Matt didn't know what to say but when Mohinder reached over for his hand, he knew to squeeze back. "I thought about what was important to me."

"And?"

"Maybe I can't compromise and remain the same person," Mohinder said softly. "But I can't turn my back on Niki. On what this could become."

Sighing, Matt resigned himself to a second good-bye. "Of course not."

"It's not--" Mohinder said, and then changed tactics. "I'm not choosing the Company over Molly--"

"Yeah, you are," Matt interrupted. "It was a really simple choice and you stayed there." He heard Mohinder's thought, the objection that he's home now, but it didn't mean enough. "Why are you here now?"

"What?" Mohinder asked, caught by surprise.

"You're not here because you decided Molly was more important. You're here because you hit a dead end and you're waiting for test results." Matt snorted at the thoughts inside Mohinder's head and added, "And don't lie to a damn telepath."

"You are oversimplifying the situation, Matthew." What he meant was that Matt didn't understand, but Matt wasn't stupid. He *understood*. He just didn't agree. "This is a mutated strain of the virus. Once a virus has mutated once, it becomes more likely that it will mutate again. The first mutation was immune to the proven cure, what if the second mutation is air-borne?"

"And what if it doesn't work? What if you sell your soul to the Company and never find a cure? What if they set the entire thing up -- and don't tell me these people wouldn't, it's the way they work -- just to have you working on this?" They were horrible thoughts, each and every one of them, and Matt knew he should be strong, he should hold his ground. He should use the one bargaining chip he had, Molly, to force Mohinder's hand and keep him safe. But that type of emotional manipulation seemed cheap, like fighting dirty.

"Then I will know that I did all I could," Mohinder said, raising their hands and pressing a warm kiss to Matt's fingers. "This may be a ploy but the danger behind it is real, whether or not they realise it."

Outside, he could hear the rain starting to fall, hitting the windows in a low, steady strum. Inside, there was just the two of them on the couch, not touching except for their linked hands. They hadn't been to bed since the night before last and in Matt's opinion, it was too much. Too much arguing, too much worrying, too much danger and too much wrong every way he looked at it.

Matt rearranged himself until he had his head on Mohinder's shoulder and his other hand flat against his stomach. "And Molly?"

"I cannot ignore the world for her sake alone. Especially not when these things concern her, when they endanger her as well."

"Well, how about not ignoring her for the sake of the Company, huh? For the sake of a woman who once threw me out of a window," Matt added, still appropriately bitter about that. "You didn't even come to see Molly. Instead, you were running to Bob and digging yourself deeper into this mess."

"Matthew," Mohinder said softly, pleading, pressing his lips to Matt's temple, "what do you expect me to do?"

"I expect you to apologise." Even if Matt hadn't heard his replying thoughts -- acknowledgment of Matt's anger, confusion at an irrational, pointless complaint -- he would have felt Mohinder's surprised jerk. So he explained it, as best he could. "I expect you to apologise for not coming to see Molly. For looking to Bob for guidance without even discussing it with it us. Without discussing it with me. You want us to be a family, to raise Molly together, then we have to do it together."

"The same way we decided that Molly should search for your father?" Mohinder asked pointedly, but the anger from earlier is gone. Maybe they're both too tired to be angry about this now.

"I never said I was perfect at this, but we've got to try. If we're turning to other people... it's not going to work. You and me. And Molly. It won't work." Matt turned to face Mohinder, and it was the first time he'd looked at him during this entire conversation. "I need you to get why that's important to me."

"Oh." Such a quiet sound, but it meant so much. "I did not consider my actions in those terms."

Mohinder struggled for what to say next: how to explain that he was thinking about the greater good, was thinking about the lives of millions and the necessity to act as swiftly as possible; that he had not intended to be hurtful, to neglect Molly, had considered the two issues quite separate. And while he had floundered in moral ambiguity, while he had revealed his own deception in the hope of honestly working with the Company to forestall disaster, he'd never considered his other responsibilities.

"I’ve been single for quite a while," Mohinder said eventually. "I'm used to being responsible for myself alone. And I'm sorry."

It was more than Matt had been expecting. So simple and gracious, and he knew that Mohinder meant it. "And I'm sorry about threatening to change the locks. I might have over-reacted a little."

"Maybe we should leave the rest of this discussion until we've both had some sleep." There was another kiss pressed against his temple. Then Mohinder stood up, and held out his hand.

Matt took it without a moment's hesitation.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

clarify.livejournal.com

Agh, I loved both of the fics so much. Really, extraordinarily well-done, and I absolutely adore your characterization of Matt and Mohinder. It's so brutal and real and really emphasizes the tension of this situation they're in right now, and how it puts such a strain on their relationship. Lovely. =) (And I hope this comment makes sense, I should be in bed.)

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Heroes fic: Unexpected

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