Long Distance Relationship
Jul. 27th, 2009 03:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jaune_chatTitle: Long Distance Relationship
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jaune_chat
Fandom: Heroes
Characters/Pairing: Micah/Molly
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2,857
Spoilers: Spoilers for most of S3.
Warnings: Mention of canon character deaths
Disclaimer: Heroes is owned by Tim Kring, NBC, et al.
Notes: I’m cowboying around with the canon storyline to make this fit, because I want to. If Heroes can do it, I can do it. Just work with me, and it will all be good, I promise. ;-) Written forsuperkappa's day of power as CEO at ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
heroes_exchange.
Summary: We all knew Micah and Molly were behind the organized rebellion. Here’s how they got started.
This is also a podfic! You can listen to this story, as recorded by the talentedspeccygeekgrrl.
The package had come as a surprise. Despite the weeks Molly had been in India with Mrs. Suresh, neither Mohinder nor Matt had sent her anything. Not a package, not a card, not even a phone call. Mohinder had warned her that this might happen when he’d sent her away; that things were getting more and more dangerous for people with abilities, and he might not be able to check in on her without putting her in danger.
And at the airport he’d made her promise not to look in on him or Matt.
“I don’t want you to worry about us. We’ll be careful, I promise,” Mohinder had said.
After suffering through the Nightmare Man’s mental prison, Maya’s poison, seeing Sylar again, and everything else that had happened (it played in her nightmares sometimes with pitiless clarity, screams of betrayal, gunshots, electricity, syringes, and fear), Molly thought she’d had enough of danger. But she couldn’t stand the thought of Matt and Mohinder throwing themselves back in harm’s way.
“If you make sure you and Matt keep yourselves out of trouble, I’ll promise,” she’d said, putting her hands on her hips, like she remembered her mother doing. Mohinder had bowed his head in an attempt to hide a smile, and agreed. And so she’d promised, crossing her heart like her father had done to seal a bargain.
And now, in a place where no one knew who she was, where she had kept herself quiet and unassuming, looking in on no one, Molly was understandably surprised to get something addressed to her. Despite everything Grandmother Suresh had done to make her feel welcome, this was the first time since Molly had come here that she felt someone had remembered she existed. Opening the package with trepidation, she was doubly surprised to find a thin laptop. Taped to the top was an inkjet picture of a streetlight. Underneath were typed the words, “Do you remember me?”
Starting at the picture for a long minute, Molly’s mind flashed back to New Orleans last year, where she’d met a boy that could talk to machines. Closing her eyes, she sought him out, finding him curled up on a couch in a dim room, lit only by machines. He didn’t have anyone with him at all, not in the next room, not anywhere. His parents were gone, like hers, and he was completely alone.
She opened the computer and turned it on. When it asked for a password, she unhesitatingly typed in “Micah.”
The computer whirred to life, immediately bringing up a window marked, “Live Webcam Session.” The speakers beeped incessantly for a long minute, until the sleepy-eyed, tousle-haired face of Micah Sanders appeared on the screen.
“Molly?” he asked tentatively, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. When she nodded, he smiled widely in relief. Molly smiled back tremulously, not even caring if she’d woken him up. She knew that smile. It was the I’m-not-alone-anymore smile. She’d seen it on him when they’d met in New Orleans, when they’d both discovered they weren’t the only kids that were different.
“Of course I remember you Micah,” Molly said, in response to a question he’d sent from thousands of miles away.
Micah blinked rapidly and quickly wiped his eyes again. “Hey, uh, I know this sounds kinda like a really bad line but… do you want to help me save the world?”
“I-.” Molly balked, remembering her promise. “I promised I wouldn’t look in.”
“Mohinder got captured, and they haven’t entered where he’s being kept yet. Everyone’s going off the grid, and I can’t find them… I’m trying, I’m really trying, but they’re just… disappearing,” Micah blurted out.
Molly’s stomach suddenly seemed to drop to her knees. “What?!”
“I’m kinda running a resistance over here…”
“’Kinda?’ ‘Kinda?!’” Molly nearly yelled, remembering at the last second to keep her voice down. Grandma Suresh didn’t need to know.
“I’m Rebel,” Micah said, the words rushing out of him, like he’d been holding them in too long. “After the government starting hunting people like us, I’ve been trying to help them. Move them around, you know, get them new IDs and things so they could disappear. And then they were capturing people and putting them on a plane and it crashed, and I’ve been trying to find everyone that escaped, but they’re all off the grid-.”
He stopped himself abruptly, turning away from the screen. Molly thought she heard the sounds of someone blowing into a Kleenex, but didn’t think too badly of Micah.
She was too busy thinking badly of Matt and Mohinder. He’d promised to stay out of trouble, to not do any of the things that had made everything go so crazy last year. And she hadn’t used her powers, not once, not even during the eclipse (though she’d been sorely tempted).
And now… Molly firmed her chin, too angry to be more than just a little worried, and opened her mind’s eye. She didn’t need an atlas now; she was too mad to bother with paper and pushpins.
“Micah,” she said after a second, and saw him pop back into view. “Write this down. I know where Mohinder and Matt are. And you tell Matt to hurry!”
After Micah rapidly wrote down a pair of addresses, she saw him put a hand on something just out of screen, closing his eyes to concentrate. It reminded her of herself when she was looking for someone, and kept quiet, even if she was bursting with questions.
But the second he opened his eyes, she opened the floodgates.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If Grandmother Suresh wondered why Molly was up at odd hours of the night, she never said a word. Sometimes she just seemed to understand these sorts of things. Molly wouldn’t have been able to explain everything without taking a few hours anyway, and her hours were precious.
“This Claire person is going to get kind of mad if you keep putting people in her house,” Molly warned one night. “Two in a week? That’s kind of dangerous. And the puppet man is creepy!”
“He doesn’t deserve to get locked up without a trial and good evidence,” Micah pointed out, a slight edge of desperation in his voice.
Molly didn’t push after that; Micah had talked about how his dad had been in jail for all the wrong reasons before. A friend wouldn’t push him.
She hadn’t realized how long it had been since she’d had a close friend her own age to talk to. Or a close friend, period. Micah was the same way. And over the next few weeks, they tried to fix that, even as they tried to fix the world, together.
He talked about growing up different than other kids in his class; Molly talked about growing up normal… up until about two years ago. He talked about his parents, and how they’d been heroes, and had died trying to do the right thing. (“We could have been the Fantastic Four, minus one.”) She summoned the courage to tell Micah about Sylar and Matt Parkman and Mohinder. He talked about his cousin Monica; she talked about life in India.
And in between that, they talked about how to save the world, one special at a time.
“They’re not in India now,” Molly pointed out.
“I know, I know, but they’re going to be in a day or two. They’re getting plane tickets right now. I’ve gotten some chatter about a wedding?” Micah asked, looking frazzled.
Molly furrowed her brow as she examined the local paper. Micah might have been able to talk to machines, but he didn’t speak a word of the local language. Molly did, or at least she’d been able to pick up some from Grandma Suresh.
“Got it! There’s a wedding tomorrow, and the bride runs this pastry shop… Hey, it has a fax number!”
“Ok, that’s perfect. I think Hiro and Ando are the only two that are free right now to rescue this person… Can you find, um… You’re looking for Matt Parkman. Junior,” Micah added quickly.
“Junior? Matt’s kid?” Molly squeaked.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“If I can get all this information to Tracy, maybe she can talk to someone higher up in the government and get them to stop!” Micah was saying, his curls utterly unruly, even through the small computer screen.
“Do you think she’ll do it? A lot of the others have been too scared to do anything,” Molly pointed out. Micah was a lot more optimistic than her. It was something she liked about him, but she’d had a little more first-hand experience in how very badly things could go wrong.
“I’ve read her bio, and she’s seen everything they government can do. People know her. This might be the best chance we get!” Micah pointed out. “And… she’s my mom’s sister.”
Molly closed her eyes and nodded her head. “Ok, write this down…”
It was only a few hours later when Molly’s laptop chimed at her again. Micah was back.
She bounded over, and woke her computer up, only to see Micah, head down, shoulders shaking.
“They shot her,” he said, voice muffled by his arm and thick with emotion.
Molly didn’t ask who. Or why. Asking why hadn’t changed what Sylar had done to her parents, or to Maya, or Mohinder, or anything else.
“Micah? Micah, please, look at me,” Molly whispered. Micah had seen some bad things happen before, but not so close. Not like her. Not so near that you felt you could have done something, but you didn’t, and people you loved died anyway.
“Don’t tell me it’s ok,” Micah said, not moving.
“It’s not,” Molly said flatly. Micah’s head came up in shock. “Tell me about it. I’m not there, I can’t do anything, so please…” Talk to me, Molly said to herself. Talk to me. I couldn’t talk to anyone about my parents, or Sylar, not even Matt. And I didn’t want to say anything to Mohinder, not when he was hurt and scared even worse than me…
Micah lifted his head and stared into her eyes from thousands of miles away. “I first read about her…”
Molly listened as Micah spoke about meeting Tracy, about betrayal and running and fear, of her making a choice, and of standing in an underground passage below the parking garage when that final bang felt like it had just thudded through his own body.
Molly’s eyes went wide, and for a second she felt herself being squeezed into a small dark room, her mother screaming on the other side of the door…
She reached out and placed her hand on the camera so it filled the screen, and saw Micah do the same. She imagined for a moment she could feel the warmth of his skin, and felt the room lighten slightly around them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Did Mohinder move again?” Micah asked desperately.
Molly pursed her lips in extreme irritation. “No, he got himself captured. Again. Isn’t this the third time?”
“Maybe I shouldn’t get him free this time,” Micah muttered.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Molly giggled. “Oh, let’s give him the first one for free. So this is only the second time. But if he gets captured after this rescue-.”
“He’s on his own,” Micah agreed. Neither of them would ever stop trying to help him, or anyone else, but if they didn’t laugh about this every now and then, they were going to cry. And when you were half a world apart and didn’t have a shoulder to cry on, they tried not to do that to each other.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“He rescued me Molly, I swear!” Micah said, desperate to have her understand why he was staying in Sylar’s apartment.
“He-. He-,” Molly sputtered in rage, a half-second away from shutting off the computer and never having anything to do with Micah Sanders ever again.
“I don’t think he’s ok,” Micah added softly, tapping his head. “My mom was the same way. I think some people’s powers are really hard on them, and shapeshifting has got to be tough.”
“You think he’s going crazy?” Molly asked, horrified. A genuinely crazy Sylar was even worse to think about than the calculating, cold-blooded creature she’d met before.
“Maybe he just needs something to believe in. I think he’s worried… I think he doesn’t want the government hunting us either. He could be a rebel!”
“Micah, he’s a killer!” Molly didn’t know how she could get the point across any more strongly. Anger was giving way before terror at Micah being anywhere near Sylar.
“I know, I know!” he said, looking away from the camera. “But so was Jessica-.”
“Because in a crazy way she was trying to help you and your mom,” Molly pointed out. “You told me that.”
“Maybe he just needs a chance to do one good thing-.”
“I’m going to do a good thing by coming over there and- and- punching you in the face!” Molly declared. “Get out of there before he comes back. I can see him, he’s going to be back in five minutes!”
Micah abruptly looked away again. “I gotta go. Molly…” He hesitated, and then plunged on. “I’ll remember. I know what he is. I just think he’ll be able to help save us all; make the government stop. Then you can come back.”
Before Molly could even gather her wits to respond to that, Micah was gone again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Just like that?” Molly said, hugging herself as Micah played his webcam over the headlines of the Washington Post.
“Sorta. There’s some stuff going on behind the scenes, but Building 26 is back to being an office building, the hunters have different jobs, Mr. Danko is out of the country, and all the prisoners have been released.” Micah’s tone was businesslike, but the webcam was shaking.
“Sylar?” Molly asked quietly. “I can’t find him anymore.”
“No one is saying, but I think he got killed when he tried to attack Senator Petrelli,” Micah said, setting the webcam back down so Molly could see him again.
Molly nodded shortly at the news, and took a deep breath, trying to let that last bit of fear inside her thaw, even as a new one was taking its place. “Matt’s taking care of baby Matt with Janice,” she said. “And Mohinder’s working with Mr. Bennet again, but they aren’t fighting so much. They’re actually kind of civil. It’s funny…”
“Yeah,” Micah added, and put his fingers on the bottom of the frame as he saw Molly swallow hard. She put her hand up to meet his against the screen. She hadn’t been sent for yet, and they both knew it.
“I guess they’re both pretty busy,” she added, trying to sound casual. “With the new government and family and all.”
“Uh…” Micah ducked his head, and looked a bit sheepish. “Check the mail today?”
Eyes wide, Molly bounded out of the room, almost colliding with Grandma Suresh. She handed Molly a yellow envelope with a knowing smile, and patted her on the cheek before silently shooing her back inside her room. Mad with curiosity, she ripped open the envelope to find the stiff, glossy paper of plane tickets, and a very thin phone.
“My cousin got a job in L.A. working as a stuntwoman while she takes college classes,” Micah said as Molly got back into view. “And um… I know how to get my hands on some money, so I’m helping her with the rent on a house. There’s a couple of really cool schools kinda nearby. I mean, I know we, um, I have to go, so I guess I should go to a good one, right?”
“We?” Molly pounced on the word.
Micah blushed furiously. “After what happened to all of us, the government will pretty much let us go wherever we want,” he added, trying to seem nonchalant.
Molly checked the tickets: one-way to L.A.
“So, you’re asking me out on a date?” Molly asked, a slow smile starting to cross her face.
Micah choked briefly, then recovered. “Well yeah, I mean, kind of. And there’s a place to stay, and Matt’s nearby and-.”
“Yes,” Molly said, and touched the webcam again. Micah pressed his hand to hers through the wires and pixels, and then pulled his back.
“It’ll be weird to see you without the screen,” he said.
Molly barely heard him, she was so busy trying to throw clothes into her suitcase.
“You’ll get used to it,” Molly declared. Blushing a bit, she impulsively went to the webcam and pressed her lips to it briefly. “Trust me, that’ll be a lot better in person.”
Attempting to ignore Micah’s stunned silence, Molly shoved the last few things inside, and was almost unsurprised when Grandma Suresh knocked on her door. She always seemed to know these things.
“I’ve gotta go,” Molly added quickly. “I’ll see you soon.”
“I’ll meet you at the airport,” Micah said. “Molly?” Molly stopped in her frantic preparations. “I know it’ll be better in person. I promise.”
Smiling, Molly closed the laptop, and headed out the door.
Author:
jaune_chatFandom: Heroes
Characters/Pairing: Micah/Molly
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2,857
Spoilers: Spoilers for most of S3.
Warnings: Mention of canon character deaths
Disclaimer: Heroes is owned by Tim Kring, NBC, et al.
Notes: I’m cowboying around with the canon storyline to make this fit, because I want to. If Heroes can do it, I can do it. Just work with me, and it will all be good, I promise. ;-) Written for
superkappa's day of power as CEO at heroes_exchange. Summary: We all knew Micah and Molly were behind the organized rebellion. Here’s how they got started.
This is also a podfic! You can listen to this story, as recorded by the talented
speccygeekgrrl.The package had come as a surprise. Despite the weeks Molly had been in India with Mrs. Suresh, neither Mohinder nor Matt had sent her anything. Not a package, not a card, not even a phone call. Mohinder had warned her that this might happen when he’d sent her away; that things were getting more and more dangerous for people with abilities, and he might not be able to check in on her without putting her in danger.
And at the airport he’d made her promise not to look in on him or Matt.
“I don’t want you to worry about us. We’ll be careful, I promise,” Mohinder had said.
After suffering through the Nightmare Man’s mental prison, Maya’s poison, seeing Sylar again, and everything else that had happened (it played in her nightmares sometimes with pitiless clarity, screams of betrayal, gunshots, electricity, syringes, and fear), Molly thought she’d had enough of danger. But she couldn’t stand the thought of Matt and Mohinder throwing themselves back in harm’s way.
“If you make sure you and Matt keep yourselves out of trouble, I’ll promise,” she’d said, putting her hands on her hips, like she remembered her mother doing. Mohinder had bowed his head in an attempt to hide a smile, and agreed. And so she’d promised, crossing her heart like her father had done to seal a bargain.
And now, in a place where no one knew who she was, where she had kept herself quiet and unassuming, looking in on no one, Molly was understandably surprised to get something addressed to her. Despite everything Grandmother Suresh had done to make her feel welcome, this was the first time since Molly had come here that she felt someone had remembered she existed. Opening the package with trepidation, she was doubly surprised to find a thin laptop. Taped to the top was an inkjet picture of a streetlight. Underneath were typed the words, “Do you remember me?”
Starting at the picture for a long minute, Molly’s mind flashed back to New Orleans last year, where she’d met a boy that could talk to machines. Closing her eyes, she sought him out, finding him curled up on a couch in a dim room, lit only by machines. He didn’t have anyone with him at all, not in the next room, not anywhere. His parents were gone, like hers, and he was completely alone.
She opened the computer and turned it on. When it asked for a password, she unhesitatingly typed in “Micah.”
The computer whirred to life, immediately bringing up a window marked, “Live Webcam Session.” The speakers beeped incessantly for a long minute, until the sleepy-eyed, tousle-haired face of Micah Sanders appeared on the screen.
“Molly?” he asked tentatively, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. When she nodded, he smiled widely in relief. Molly smiled back tremulously, not even caring if she’d woken him up. She knew that smile. It was the I’m-not-alone-anymore smile. She’d seen it on him when they’d met in New Orleans, when they’d both discovered they weren’t the only kids that were different.
“Of course I remember you Micah,” Molly said, in response to a question he’d sent from thousands of miles away.
Micah blinked rapidly and quickly wiped his eyes again. “Hey, uh, I know this sounds kinda like a really bad line but… do you want to help me save the world?”
“I-.” Molly balked, remembering her promise. “I promised I wouldn’t look in.”
“Mohinder got captured, and they haven’t entered where he’s being kept yet. Everyone’s going off the grid, and I can’t find them… I’m trying, I’m really trying, but they’re just… disappearing,” Micah blurted out.
Molly’s stomach suddenly seemed to drop to her knees. “What?!”
“I’m kinda running a resistance over here…”
“’Kinda?’ ‘Kinda?!’” Molly nearly yelled, remembering at the last second to keep her voice down. Grandma Suresh didn’t need to know.
“I’m Rebel,” Micah said, the words rushing out of him, like he’d been holding them in too long. “After the government starting hunting people like us, I’ve been trying to help them. Move them around, you know, get them new IDs and things so they could disappear. And then they were capturing people and putting them on a plane and it crashed, and I’ve been trying to find everyone that escaped, but they’re all off the grid-.”
He stopped himself abruptly, turning away from the screen. Molly thought she heard the sounds of someone blowing into a Kleenex, but didn’t think too badly of Micah.
She was too busy thinking badly of Matt and Mohinder. He’d promised to stay out of trouble, to not do any of the things that had made everything go so crazy last year. And she hadn’t used her powers, not once, not even during the eclipse (though she’d been sorely tempted).
And now… Molly firmed her chin, too angry to be more than just a little worried, and opened her mind’s eye. She didn’t need an atlas now; she was too mad to bother with paper and pushpins.
“Micah,” she said after a second, and saw him pop back into view. “Write this down. I know where Mohinder and Matt are. And you tell Matt to hurry!”
After Micah rapidly wrote down a pair of addresses, she saw him put a hand on something just out of screen, closing his eyes to concentrate. It reminded her of herself when she was looking for someone, and kept quiet, even if she was bursting with questions.
But the second he opened his eyes, she opened the floodgates.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If Grandmother Suresh wondered why Molly was up at odd hours of the night, she never said a word. Sometimes she just seemed to understand these sorts of things. Molly wouldn’t have been able to explain everything without taking a few hours anyway, and her hours were precious.
“This Claire person is going to get kind of mad if you keep putting people in her house,” Molly warned one night. “Two in a week? That’s kind of dangerous. And the puppet man is creepy!”
“He doesn’t deserve to get locked up without a trial and good evidence,” Micah pointed out, a slight edge of desperation in his voice.
Molly didn’t push after that; Micah had talked about how his dad had been in jail for all the wrong reasons before. A friend wouldn’t push him.
She hadn’t realized how long it had been since she’d had a close friend her own age to talk to. Or a close friend, period. Micah was the same way. And over the next few weeks, they tried to fix that, even as they tried to fix the world, together.
He talked about growing up different than other kids in his class; Molly talked about growing up normal… up until about two years ago. He talked about his parents, and how they’d been heroes, and had died trying to do the right thing. (“We could have been the Fantastic Four, minus one.”) She summoned the courage to tell Micah about Sylar and Matt Parkman and Mohinder. He talked about his cousin Monica; she talked about life in India.
And in between that, they talked about how to save the world, one special at a time.
“They’re not in India now,” Molly pointed out.
“I know, I know, but they’re going to be in a day or two. They’re getting plane tickets right now. I’ve gotten some chatter about a wedding?” Micah asked, looking frazzled.
Molly furrowed her brow as she examined the local paper. Micah might have been able to talk to machines, but he didn’t speak a word of the local language. Molly did, or at least she’d been able to pick up some from Grandma Suresh.
“Got it! There’s a wedding tomorrow, and the bride runs this pastry shop… Hey, it has a fax number!”
“Ok, that’s perfect. I think Hiro and Ando are the only two that are free right now to rescue this person… Can you find, um… You’re looking for Matt Parkman. Junior,” Micah added quickly.
“Junior? Matt’s kid?” Molly squeaked.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“If I can get all this information to Tracy, maybe she can talk to someone higher up in the government and get them to stop!” Micah was saying, his curls utterly unruly, even through the small computer screen.
“Do you think she’ll do it? A lot of the others have been too scared to do anything,” Molly pointed out. Micah was a lot more optimistic than her. It was something she liked about him, but she’d had a little more first-hand experience in how very badly things could go wrong.
“I’ve read her bio, and she’s seen everything they government can do. People know her. This might be the best chance we get!” Micah pointed out. “And… she’s my mom’s sister.”
Molly closed her eyes and nodded her head. “Ok, write this down…”
It was only a few hours later when Molly’s laptop chimed at her again. Micah was back.
She bounded over, and woke her computer up, only to see Micah, head down, shoulders shaking.
“They shot her,” he said, voice muffled by his arm and thick with emotion.
Molly didn’t ask who. Or why. Asking why hadn’t changed what Sylar had done to her parents, or to Maya, or Mohinder, or anything else.
“Micah? Micah, please, look at me,” Molly whispered. Micah had seen some bad things happen before, but not so close. Not like her. Not so near that you felt you could have done something, but you didn’t, and people you loved died anyway.
“Don’t tell me it’s ok,” Micah said, not moving.
“It’s not,” Molly said flatly. Micah’s head came up in shock. “Tell me about it. I’m not there, I can’t do anything, so please…” Talk to me, Molly said to herself. Talk to me. I couldn’t talk to anyone about my parents, or Sylar, not even Matt. And I didn’t want to say anything to Mohinder, not when he was hurt and scared even worse than me…
Micah lifted his head and stared into her eyes from thousands of miles away. “I first read about her…”
Molly listened as Micah spoke about meeting Tracy, about betrayal and running and fear, of her making a choice, and of standing in an underground passage below the parking garage when that final bang felt like it had just thudded through his own body.
Molly’s eyes went wide, and for a second she felt herself being squeezed into a small dark room, her mother screaming on the other side of the door…
She reached out and placed her hand on the camera so it filled the screen, and saw Micah do the same. She imagined for a moment she could feel the warmth of his skin, and felt the room lighten slightly around them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Did Mohinder move again?” Micah asked desperately.
Molly pursed her lips in extreme irritation. “No, he got himself captured. Again. Isn’t this the third time?”
“Maybe I shouldn’t get him free this time,” Micah muttered.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Molly giggled. “Oh, let’s give him the first one for free. So this is only the second time. But if he gets captured after this rescue-.”
“He’s on his own,” Micah agreed. Neither of them would ever stop trying to help him, or anyone else, but if they didn’t laugh about this every now and then, they were going to cry. And when you were half a world apart and didn’t have a shoulder to cry on, they tried not to do that to each other.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“He rescued me Molly, I swear!” Micah said, desperate to have her understand why he was staying in Sylar’s apartment.
“He-. He-,” Molly sputtered in rage, a half-second away from shutting off the computer and never having anything to do with Micah Sanders ever again.
“I don’t think he’s ok,” Micah added softly, tapping his head. “My mom was the same way. I think some people’s powers are really hard on them, and shapeshifting has got to be tough.”
“You think he’s going crazy?” Molly asked, horrified. A genuinely crazy Sylar was even worse to think about than the calculating, cold-blooded creature she’d met before.
“Maybe he just needs something to believe in. I think he’s worried… I think he doesn’t want the government hunting us either. He could be a rebel!”
“Micah, he’s a killer!” Molly didn’t know how she could get the point across any more strongly. Anger was giving way before terror at Micah being anywhere near Sylar.
“I know, I know!” he said, looking away from the camera. “But so was Jessica-.”
“Because in a crazy way she was trying to help you and your mom,” Molly pointed out. “You told me that.”
“Maybe he just needs a chance to do one good thing-.”
“I’m going to do a good thing by coming over there and- and- punching you in the face!” Molly declared. “Get out of there before he comes back. I can see him, he’s going to be back in five minutes!”
Micah abruptly looked away again. “I gotta go. Molly…” He hesitated, and then plunged on. “I’ll remember. I know what he is. I just think he’ll be able to help save us all; make the government stop. Then you can come back.”
Before Molly could even gather her wits to respond to that, Micah was gone again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Just like that?” Molly said, hugging herself as Micah played his webcam over the headlines of the Washington Post.
“Sorta. There’s some stuff going on behind the scenes, but Building 26 is back to being an office building, the hunters have different jobs, Mr. Danko is out of the country, and all the prisoners have been released.” Micah’s tone was businesslike, but the webcam was shaking.
“Sylar?” Molly asked quietly. “I can’t find him anymore.”
“No one is saying, but I think he got killed when he tried to attack Senator Petrelli,” Micah said, setting the webcam back down so Molly could see him again.
Molly nodded shortly at the news, and took a deep breath, trying to let that last bit of fear inside her thaw, even as a new one was taking its place. “Matt’s taking care of baby Matt with Janice,” she said. “And Mohinder’s working with Mr. Bennet again, but they aren’t fighting so much. They’re actually kind of civil. It’s funny…”
“Yeah,” Micah added, and put his fingers on the bottom of the frame as he saw Molly swallow hard. She put her hand up to meet his against the screen. She hadn’t been sent for yet, and they both knew it.
“I guess they’re both pretty busy,” she added, trying to sound casual. “With the new government and family and all.”
“Uh…” Micah ducked his head, and looked a bit sheepish. “Check the mail today?”
Eyes wide, Molly bounded out of the room, almost colliding with Grandma Suresh. She handed Molly a yellow envelope with a knowing smile, and patted her on the cheek before silently shooing her back inside her room. Mad with curiosity, she ripped open the envelope to find the stiff, glossy paper of plane tickets, and a very thin phone.
“My cousin got a job in L.A. working as a stuntwoman while she takes college classes,” Micah said as Molly got back into view. “And um… I know how to get my hands on some money, so I’m helping her with the rent on a house. There’s a couple of really cool schools kinda nearby. I mean, I know we, um, I have to go, so I guess I should go to a good one, right?”
“We?” Molly pounced on the word.
Micah blushed furiously. “After what happened to all of us, the government will pretty much let us go wherever we want,” he added, trying to seem nonchalant.
Molly checked the tickets: one-way to L.A.
“So, you’re asking me out on a date?” Molly asked, a slow smile starting to cross her face.
Micah choked briefly, then recovered. “Well yeah, I mean, kind of. And there’s a place to stay, and Matt’s nearby and-.”
“Yes,” Molly said, and touched the webcam again. Micah pressed his hand to hers through the wires and pixels, and then pulled his back.
“It’ll be weird to see you without the screen,” he said.
Molly barely heard him, she was so busy trying to throw clothes into her suitcase.
“You’ll get used to it,” Molly declared. Blushing a bit, she impulsively went to the webcam and pressed her lips to it briefly. “Trust me, that’ll be a lot better in person.”
Attempting to ignore Micah’s stunned silence, Molly shoved the last few things inside, and was almost unsurprised when Grandma Suresh knocked on her door. She always seemed to know these things.
“I’ve gotta go,” Molly added quickly. “I’ll see you soon.”
“I’ll meet you at the airport,” Micah said. “Molly?” Molly stopped in her frantic preparations. “I know it’ll be better in person. I promise.”
Smiling, Molly closed the laptop, and headed out the door.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2009-07-27 08:54 pm (UTC)“Did Mohinder move again?” Micah asked desperately.
Molly pursed her lips in extreme irritation. “No, he got himself captured. Again. Isn’t this the third time?”
“Maybe I shouldn’t get him free this time,” Micah muttered.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Molly giggled. “Oh, let’s give him the first one for free. So this is only the second time. But if he gets captured after this rescue-.”
“He’s on his own,” Micah agreed. Neither of them would ever stop trying to help him, or anyone else, but if they didn’t laugh about this every now and then, they were going to cry. And when you were half a world apart and didn’t have a shoulder to cry on, they tried not to do that to each other.
Because I loved the idea of them trying to keep up humor in such tough times. Plus, it made me laugh cause it was kind of true. Mohinder did keep getting himself caught. So much for him being one of the smart ones.
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Date: 2009-07-27 09:56 pm (UTC)Yeah, I liked that bit about Mohinder too. Three times the "genius" gets himself caught. He should have gotten some kind of frequent flyer miles or something...
Glad you liked Ms. CEO Extraordinaire!
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Date: 2009-07-27 10:17 pm (UTC)“This Claire person is going to get kind of mad if you keep putting people in her house,” Molly warned one night. “Two in a week? That’s kind of dangerous. And the puppet man is creepy!”
LOL! I questioned that too.
Fantastic work!
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Date: 2009-07-28 01:35 am (UTC)And yeah, having the kids comment on the strange state of canon in Heroes was fun. Someone has to comment on the perodic epic!fail. ;-)
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Date: 2009-07-28 07:27 am (UTC)I would have felt like a real perv, and knowing as you do the depths to which I will sink, that's a very far away line for me.
I heart you for those depths! Truly. The fact that you can also write something as sweetly observed as this just shows how talented you are (and I'm starting to think there must be something to this Heroes genetic gifts thing, because you and a certain someone show that the power of awesome writing may be familial too)!
Thanks again for sharing this - it's put a huge smile on my face and love in my heart just reading it again after coming home from work.
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Date: 2009-07-27 11:41 pm (UTC)Only thing: Didn't they meet in New York?
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Date: 2009-07-28 01:13 am (UTC)But I'm glad you liked it, and thanks for commenting!
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Date: 2009-07-28 08:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-28 09:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-28 12:47 pm (UTC)This is beyond the best.
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Date: 2009-07-28 02:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-28 02:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-28 02:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-29 04:07 am (UTC)Also I really liked how you brought in elements of their histories, like this:
Molly didn’t push after that; Micah had talked about how his dad had been in jail for all the wrong reasons before. A friend wouldn’t push him.
Oh, and a happy(ish?) ending - those are good to have, sometimes :) Poor Molly. The connection between the two of them was sweet, and Micah's reliance on Molly was such a fantastic way of exploring what he was going through and how it may have affected him. Such a great character. I hope we get to see more of him.
And yay for mentions of Monica!
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Date: 2009-07-29 06:34 pm (UTC)Micah really did get very short shrift for all the help he gave, lemme see, EVERYONE on the show. Molly also was criminally ignored. I know there was a brief storyline for her that was cut for sheer creepiness (Arthur Petrelli was supposed to have taken her power, which was how he found Hiro and Claire in the past, but I'm glad that was cut). I sincerely wish they could have found something better.
So thusly teaming her up with Micah was only natural. They're a great pair of kids to write, and they both have really interesting histories to explore.
Thanks so much for commenting.
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Date: 2009-07-29 09:37 pm (UTC)The concept of 'Rebel', and of Rebel as a group of people around Micah (that was explored more in some of the graphic novels) was one of the best parts of 'Fugitives' for me. I loved the hints of an organised virtual semi-guerilla movement (well, they seemed mostly defensive so 'guerilla' might not be the right term), plus the liberation rhetoric and historical references (Bolivar, etc). It was a bit above the hunter & hunted thing that was most of what we saw (not that the parallels drawn between the specials and paranoia re: terrorism weren't interesting, too).
Heh, messing around with canon (if canon wasted a character) is fun. I can see TPTB thinking that viewers wouldn't be too interested in Micah's story, seeing as he's a kid and all -- but I think it would have been great. Telling Tracy to pick a side, and that 'mine' wasn't one -- awesome.
So thusly teaming her up with Micah was only natural. They're a great pair of kids to write, and they both have really interesting histories to explore.
Any thoughts of exploring it more? (No pressure!!!)
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Date: 2009-07-30 01:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-31 06:55 am (UTC)I also really enjoyed getting to see how you wove your own ideas through canon events - to this day I still wish that we had found out through the show that Molly was working with Micah, because it would make sense considering what powers they have *and* it would show what had happened to Molly. Oh, well, reading this was just as good as watching the events unfold in Volume 4, so again, kudos on meshing fanon and canon ideas!
Needless to say - but I'll say it anyway - you did a fantastic job on this :D
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Date: 2009-07-31 10:06 am (UTC)I really wish the show had done more with the kids than they have. I know it's hard to work with them re: limited times in which child actors are allowed to work, but seriously. They invest all this time into the kids in the first and second season, and then basically drop them both like a dead rabbit for 90% for S3. Not. Satisfying.
I'm glad you liked it and thanks for commenting!
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Date: 2010-01-02 01:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 04:22 am (UTC)(Just out of curiosity, how did you come across this story?)
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Date: 2010-01-02 02:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 03:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-26 03:24 am (UTC)This fic was nominated at the Summer 2010 Fanfiction Awards (http://community.livejournal.com/heroes_faves/24540.html), hosted by
-Jack
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