Deleted Scenes 10b and 11 &1/2. M3. PG-13
Yay! Two Deleted Scenes for the price of one... That price being free as well.
I'm so glad to be almost done with the series. Now that I've got these out of the way, all that's left will be Part Twelve: The Obligatory Parents' Night Debacle.
If you need to do some catching up, there are parts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
And Deleted Scenes: 7a and 7c
Now I'm going to get back to watching The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: The War Years. Is it wrong of me to want to slash Young Indy/T.E. Lawrence?
Wherein I take the opportunity of the deleted scene to abuse Peter even more.
Mohinder’s POV
“Mohinder,” Peter called out. He quickly caught up to me and grabbed me by the shoulder. I shook away from him.
“Mohinder,” he moved in front of me. “I know it looked like he told me something, but he didn’t. I just sort of read his mind.”
I rolled my eyes and looked around the sidewalk. As usual, there was no shortage of people wandering the New York streets. The skies were an unwelcoming smoggy gray. Like my mood, bleak and quietly angry. Peter’s honest face, full of contrition, was just pissing me off more.
“You know, I’m so bloody sick of that excuse. ‘Oh, I just read your mind by accident. I’m sorry. I can’t help it’. Get some bloody self-control, for fuck’s sake. I’m absolutely done with mind readers!” I shouted before storming away.
Peter caught up with me again and said in hushed tones, “Dude! You can’t just go around shouting stuff like that.”
“Fuck you. I’m sick of this. I’m sick of the secrecy and the special abilities and the accidental mind reading and accidental thought control and ridiculously difficult viruses and fucking everything! I’m leaving!”
“Where are you going?”
“Canada,” I spat. “I’m going for a fucking walk, Peter. Leave me alone.”
“Well, I just thought you should know that Matt didn’t tell me anything. I mean, that should make a difference, right?”
I stopped abruptly and he turned in front of me. “What do you care? Why are you talking to me?”
“Well… I didn’t want you to be angry at Matt because of me.” He said earnestly, like he was the champion of all things good and pure, on top of being an equal opportunity relationship counselor. I was so not in the mood for that.
“Believe me, I’m not. Matt’s done a good job of pissing me off all by himself,” I said, brushing past him.
I felt a slight halt from the back of my shoulders. Peter walked in front of me. It took a few seconds to realize what he’d done. He’d used telekinesis to stop me from walking away.
“Listen,” he started. “I just want to help fix things-“
But before he could finish, I punched him. He startled backwards, catching himself in a kneeling position.
“What the hell?” He shouted. Some people were slowing down to look, but, just as quickly, walking away. I grabbed him by the arm and pulled him up, but he jerked away from me.
“What the hell is wrong with you people?!” He spat. “I already got punched by your freaking boyfriend. Isn’t that enough? Christ!”
I was about to apologize, but decided against it. “You can’t just go around stopping people from moving around as they please and reading their minds,” I whispered angrily, as he gingerly touched his now twice-swollen nose. “And interfering in relationships when people are perfectly capable of having a fight on their own.”
His eyes went wide with outrage, “I was trying to help you! God… I haven’t been punched twice in one day since Claude was… Never mind. You know what? I’ll just go before I get hit again.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, somewhat exasperatedly.
He raised an eyebrow. “You sound really sincere right now.”
“Don’t be sarcastic,” I snapped. “I’m sorry. I suppose I’m just mad at Matthew, not you.”
“I am never coming near you two when you have a fight ever again.”
I sighed and looked up to the gray, sky less sky. There were some moments I really wished to be back in India more than any other desire, despite everything I disliked about my homeland. That was very much one of those moments. Then at the very least, the weather would be palatable.
“Listen,” he added, “The only reason I came out here is so that I didn’t inadvertently make things worse. And he wants to apologize to you, but he didn’t think you’d listen to him. So I’m sorry if-“
“Oh my god! Don’t apologize to me. I punched you in the face. I can’t believe I did that!” Because now I was actually starting to feel sorry for him. He was so good-natured… It was a bit annoying, actually, but that didn’t warrant this kind of abuse.
“I’ve been told I’m kind of punchable,” he said, shrugging, with a sort of smirk on his face.
After a few seconds, I started walking again and he followed with me.
“I’m just so bloody angry,” I started, but stopped abruptly. I really needed to meet someone that wasn’t a ten-year-old girl or some manner of psychopath, so I could have conversations about my feelings with someone other than Matt.
“They’re called friends, I think,” he offered. “I’m sorry, but you’ve got to understand, this ability is pretty hard to control. People never stop thinking.”
“I know, but he can’t just take some private thought, out of context, and use it against me. He doesn’t have the right! It’s why thoughts stay in people’s heads instead of being spoken out loud. I can’t fear my own thoughts.”
“You should tell him that. He’s a good guy. He’ll listen.”
I looked at him curiously then looked away. There was something very strange about a person who stuck around after being physically assaulted to give relationship advice. It simultaneously gave me hope about humanity and creeped me out.
“Thank you, Peter,” I said. “I appreciate it. And I’m really sorry about all the… all the punching. I promise it will never happen again.”
He gave me an off-kilter smile and said, “You’re welcome. But… that’s not the only reason why I followed you out here.”
“Yes,” I said wearily.
“Well, I kind of wanted to talk to you about the Company.”
Flashes of Bennet went off in my head and I knew this day wasn’t going to get a whole lot better.
and
Matt’s POV
When I first moved in with Mohinder, I thought it was a little weird that he was always touching Molly. Like, picking her up, straightening her hair and clothes, holding her hand, touching her face. After a while, it just didn’t register with me anymore. But after a few days of having Kavita Suresh in the house, I finally realized why.
She was the exact same way. Not only was she always fussing with Molly; she still did that to Mohinder. She was always adjusting his shirt collar or brushing invisible flecks of dust of his clothes or wiping away schmutz on his face or taking his arm. I don’t even think he realized how much she did it.
But after seeing that I realized why she totally hated me. If I were in her place, I’d probably hate me too.
Come on, some big foreign guy she didn’t know anything about was screwing her precious little boy. I was surprised she hadn’t stabbed me. I’d responded to domestics that had less provocation than that.
So I was determined to be on my best behavior. If I wanted to overcome her natural aversion to me, I’d have to be the model boyfriend to Mohinder and doting father to Molly. And then, even if she never liked me, she wouldn’t be able to complain about me. Well, if I knew anything about mothers, she’d still complain, but wouldn’t have any real reason to.
Hopefully.
And I thought I was doing a pretty good job. I mean, she wasn’t on the verge of calling me “Son” or anything. Not even smiling at me, even. But she’d look at me occasionally, instead of ignoring me out right. And her looks were less and less disdainful and more and more neutral. So, I was counting that in the win column.
Kavita was an oddly intimidating woman, really. She was small, like tiny. Mohinder obviously got his frame from here, but lucked out on the height. And she had a very calm demeanor. I’d seen smile at people in public, and at Molly and Mohinder, mostly Molly, but I knew she could do it. But with me… completely frosty.
Which is why I was more than nervous when Molly needed to go to the library for an assignment, Mrs. Suresh nominated Mohinder for the task.
“Okay,” he said. He looked at me as a person who’s throwing a lifesaver does, “We’ll go take Molly to the library.”
“No, no, no,” she said, waving her hands at Mohinder. “He doesn’t need to go. He can stay here.” That was not the first time she talked to Mohinder about me, in English, as if I weren’t in the room. At least she didn’t say ‘that man’.
And I looked at Mohinder like a person not only missed the lifesaver, but had seen it eaten by a shark.
“Uhh,” Mohinder started. I could see the wheels in his head turning, but lying on the spot was not one of his strong points. Neither was he talented making up excuses. Which leads me to believe he was the lamest teenager ever.
“I will teach him how to make eggplant curry,” she said, with a certain smile that I recognized from Angela Petrelli’s face after she was released from custody. It’s the smile of Matt Parkman’s doom.
“B-but,” Mohinder muttered, looking quite pathetically lost and confused for a man who spoke English as a third language and read books in bed with titles like “Theoretical Concepts in Molecular Biology”.
Molly had her backpack all prepared and her coat on. She was also pretty oblivious to her new Grandma’s disapproval over me. She was still pretty excited over all the stories new Grandma could tell her about Mohinder as a baby and presents from India. So she was a little less perceptive than usual and didn’t see that one of her dads needed a bail.
“Let’s go,” she said, grabbing Mohinder’s hand, pulling him out of the apartment.
Mohinder gave me a sympathetic look before he left, but I was now on my own. With my boyfriend’s mother. Who, apparently, saw our relationship as me sodomizing her only child. I don’t know. Mohinder tried to explain how homosexuality is seen in India and how it’s only semi-acceptable as long as you get married and have kids and never talk to anyone about it. But it was still pretty confusing to me. I barely understood gender roles in America.
I also started to block out what he was saying when he used the word “transsexual”. I have nothing against transsexuals or trannies, but none of that pertains to me and, frankly, it frightens me a little. I consider my sexual appetite to be pretty damn milquetoast. What I do have is plenty satisfying for me, so I don’t complain, but I am a committed relationship type of guy. I’m not attracted to men; I’m attracted to Mohinder. So talk of gender roles and transsexuals and men in dresses, well, that just isn’t for me.
If I were offered the option of getting shot over discussing any of that with Mohinder’s mom, there’s a good chance I’d take the bullet. And something told me she really didn’t want to teach me how to make eggplant curry.
After the door closed, she leveled a look at me. It wasn’t angry, but it certainly wasn’t kind. The fact that I couldn’t understand her thoughts didn’t make it any less unnerving.
“So, curry,” I said with a nervous laugh, walking over to the kitchen. “I’m usually a Spaghetti-O’s and beer type of guy.”
She either didn’t understand or didn’t find it amusing, because she didn’t respond. She poured a cup of tea and walked into the living room without saying anything. After a few seconds of me being confused in the kitchen, she shouted, “Well, come here.”
Which may have been the first thing she said directly to me.
I hurried back into the living room, where she motioned to sit down from her on the sofa. She took a sip of her tea and cleared her throat. I tensed up the way you do when your driving and realize about three seconds before you hit something that you’re going to hit something.
“Mr. Parkman,” she said.
“Call me Matt,” I interrupted.
She gave me a dry look that clearly stated she wasn’t going to call me Matt. “Mr. Parkman, I am going to be honest with you. I do not like this situation at all.”
My mouth felt dry. I didn’t know how to respond to that. I mean, I wanted her to like me, or approve, or something that didn’t make Mohinder angry and uncomfortable. But I wasn’t going to leave Mohinder to make her happy. So I couldn’t say anything.
“I believe that my son should not be wasting time pretending to be married with you, when he should be finding a respectable woman to marry in a decent household for Molly. I believe that your type of arrangement is dangerous. I believe that Mohinder should have stayed in India with his professorship and built up his academic reputation.”
Kavita sighed heavily and looked resigned. She took another sip of her tea. I sat back tensely, still with nothing to say. I was a little shocked. I hadn’t really expected her to come forth with all her misgivings. At least when she was passive-aggressively ignoring me and calling me ‘that man’ I didn’t have to look at her disapproval.
“However, Mr. Parkman, I realize that none of these things are your fault. My son has always been headstrong and stubborn, like his father. At this moment, his beliefs are not those of mine. I have to accept that. This does not mean I like this situation any more. But I love my son dearly. And he is an intelligent man, if strange. If he believes he is following the right path, I must help him.”
“That’s… That’s considerate of you, ma’am,” I said quietly. I guessed it was a sort of roundabout approval. Which, I guessed, was pretty good for someone who wasn’t talking to me twenty minutes ago.
She frowned slightly, “This is why I am talking with you. Mohinder is clever and opinionated, but he is an academic. If he insists on remaining with you, you must take care of him.”
My eyes jumped up a little. “Take care of him?”
“I did not like the idea of him coming to America. It is not a kind place for Indian professors.” She interjected strongly, “Mohinder is a very absent-minded boy! He would forget his hair were it not on his head. He is too trusting of strangers, also.”
“You don’t need to tell me, lady,” I said, before I could even stop it from coming out of my mouth. Thankfully, she only gave me a silent reprimand for being flip.
“You are American and working for the government. Mohinder looks up you, as does Molly. You are responsible for keeping them safe.”
I felt a little overwhelmed at that statement. I had already accepted that as my responsibility, but she didn’t realize how dangerous our lives got sometimes. And being told that by someone else is a little different experience than just thinking its something you should do.
“Um, yeah, I mean, I do my best.”
“It is your job!” She shouted. “You are a police man. I was impressed with what you did with that wild man the other day, but you should have arrested him.”
“Well, I was off duty, and, technically, I assaulted him. No one reported him, cause I kicked him out. So he wasn’t actually breaking the law.”
She gave me a retiring look. And I couldn’t understand her thoughts, but I was fairly certain they were along the lines of, That would never happen in my country.
She shook her head, dismissing the comment with her hand, “I need you to take care of my Mohinder. I want you to know, even though I do not want Mohinder to be doing this, I like you, Mr. Parkman.”
“You could have fooled me,” I said under my breath, but she heard. I went a little red, but I couldn’t hold it back.
She narrowed her eyes, “You are not funny, Mr. Parkman.”
I nodded. “Yes, I’ve been told that.”
“I trust you to do this.”
I felt a little weird. I mean, it felt a little like she was giving me her son. Which was strange for a couple reasons. But I also felt a little honored. Apparently, she didn’t hate me. And she trusted me. So maybe things might turn out all right. Maybe we’d even be able to laugh and tell funny, embarrassing stories about Mohinder. I can’t say I didn’t want a good relationship with a parent for once. Maybe it would just have to be Mohinder’s parent.
“Well, thank you, Kavita,” I said with a smile.
She nodded and smiled politely. “Call me, Mrs. Suresh,” she corrected.
Okay, well, maybe that would take a while.
Part Twelve: The Obligatory Parents' Night Debacle
~love from WI
JLB
I'm so glad to be almost done with the series. Now that I've got these out of the way, all that's left will be Part Twelve: The Obligatory Parents' Night Debacle.
If you need to do some catching up, there are parts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
And Deleted Scenes: 7a and 7c
Now I'm going to get back to watching The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: The War Years. Is it wrong of me to want to slash Young Indy/T.E. Lawrence?
Wherein I take the opportunity of the deleted scene to abuse Peter even more.
Mohinder’s POV
“Mohinder,” Peter called out. He quickly caught up to me and grabbed me by the shoulder. I shook away from him.
“Mohinder,” he moved in front of me. “I know it looked like he told me something, but he didn’t. I just sort of read his mind.”
I rolled my eyes and looked around the sidewalk. As usual, there was no shortage of people wandering the New York streets. The skies were an unwelcoming smoggy gray. Like my mood, bleak and quietly angry. Peter’s honest face, full of contrition, was just pissing me off more.
“You know, I’m so bloody sick of that excuse. ‘Oh, I just read your mind by accident. I’m sorry. I can’t help it’. Get some bloody self-control, for fuck’s sake. I’m absolutely done with mind readers!” I shouted before storming away.
Peter caught up with me again and said in hushed tones, “Dude! You can’t just go around shouting stuff like that.”
“Fuck you. I’m sick of this. I’m sick of the secrecy and the special abilities and the accidental mind reading and accidental thought control and ridiculously difficult viruses and fucking everything! I’m leaving!”
“Where are you going?”
“Canada,” I spat. “I’m going for a fucking walk, Peter. Leave me alone.”
“Well, I just thought you should know that Matt didn’t tell me anything. I mean, that should make a difference, right?”
I stopped abruptly and he turned in front of me. “What do you care? Why are you talking to me?”
“Well… I didn’t want you to be angry at Matt because of me.” He said earnestly, like he was the champion of all things good and pure, on top of being an equal opportunity relationship counselor. I was so not in the mood for that.
“Believe me, I’m not. Matt’s done a good job of pissing me off all by himself,” I said, brushing past him.
I felt a slight halt from the back of my shoulders. Peter walked in front of me. It took a few seconds to realize what he’d done. He’d used telekinesis to stop me from walking away.
“Listen,” he started. “I just want to help fix things-“
But before he could finish, I punched him. He startled backwards, catching himself in a kneeling position.
“What the hell?” He shouted. Some people were slowing down to look, but, just as quickly, walking away. I grabbed him by the arm and pulled him up, but he jerked away from me.
“What the hell is wrong with you people?!” He spat. “I already got punched by your freaking boyfriend. Isn’t that enough? Christ!”
I was about to apologize, but decided against it. “You can’t just go around stopping people from moving around as they please and reading their minds,” I whispered angrily, as he gingerly touched his now twice-swollen nose. “And interfering in relationships when people are perfectly capable of having a fight on their own.”
His eyes went wide with outrage, “I was trying to help you! God… I haven’t been punched twice in one day since Claude was… Never mind. You know what? I’ll just go before I get hit again.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, somewhat exasperatedly.
He raised an eyebrow. “You sound really sincere right now.”
“Don’t be sarcastic,” I snapped. “I’m sorry. I suppose I’m just mad at Matthew, not you.”
“I am never coming near you two when you have a fight ever again.”
I sighed and looked up to the gray, sky less sky. There were some moments I really wished to be back in India more than any other desire, despite everything I disliked about my homeland. That was very much one of those moments. Then at the very least, the weather would be palatable.
“Listen,” he added, “The only reason I came out here is so that I didn’t inadvertently make things worse. And he wants to apologize to you, but he didn’t think you’d listen to him. So I’m sorry if-“
“Oh my god! Don’t apologize to me. I punched you in the face. I can’t believe I did that!” Because now I was actually starting to feel sorry for him. He was so good-natured… It was a bit annoying, actually, but that didn’t warrant this kind of abuse.
“I’ve been told I’m kind of punchable,” he said, shrugging, with a sort of smirk on his face.
After a few seconds, I started walking again and he followed with me.
“I’m just so bloody angry,” I started, but stopped abruptly. I really needed to meet someone that wasn’t a ten-year-old girl or some manner of psychopath, so I could have conversations about my feelings with someone other than Matt.
“They’re called friends, I think,” he offered. “I’m sorry, but you’ve got to understand, this ability is pretty hard to control. People never stop thinking.”
“I know, but he can’t just take some private thought, out of context, and use it against me. He doesn’t have the right! It’s why thoughts stay in people’s heads instead of being spoken out loud. I can’t fear my own thoughts.”
“You should tell him that. He’s a good guy. He’ll listen.”
I looked at him curiously then looked away. There was something very strange about a person who stuck around after being physically assaulted to give relationship advice. It simultaneously gave me hope about humanity and creeped me out.
“Thank you, Peter,” I said. “I appreciate it. And I’m really sorry about all the… all the punching. I promise it will never happen again.”
He gave me an off-kilter smile and said, “You’re welcome. But… that’s not the only reason why I followed you out here.”
“Yes,” I said wearily.
“Well, I kind of wanted to talk to you about the Company.”
Flashes of Bennet went off in my head and I knew this day wasn’t going to get a whole lot better.
and
Matt’s POV
When I first moved in with Mohinder, I thought it was a little weird that he was always touching Molly. Like, picking her up, straightening her hair and clothes, holding her hand, touching her face. After a while, it just didn’t register with me anymore. But after a few days of having Kavita Suresh in the house, I finally realized why.
She was the exact same way. Not only was she always fussing with Molly; she still did that to Mohinder. She was always adjusting his shirt collar or brushing invisible flecks of dust of his clothes or wiping away schmutz on his face or taking his arm. I don’t even think he realized how much she did it.
But after seeing that I realized why she totally hated me. If I were in her place, I’d probably hate me too.
Come on, some big foreign guy she didn’t know anything about was screwing her precious little boy. I was surprised she hadn’t stabbed me. I’d responded to domestics that had less provocation than that.
So I was determined to be on my best behavior. If I wanted to overcome her natural aversion to me, I’d have to be the model boyfriend to Mohinder and doting father to Molly. And then, even if she never liked me, she wouldn’t be able to complain about me. Well, if I knew anything about mothers, she’d still complain, but wouldn’t have any real reason to.
Hopefully.
And I thought I was doing a pretty good job. I mean, she wasn’t on the verge of calling me “Son” or anything. Not even smiling at me, even. But she’d look at me occasionally, instead of ignoring me out right. And her looks were less and less disdainful and more and more neutral. So, I was counting that in the win column.
Kavita was an oddly intimidating woman, really. She was small, like tiny. Mohinder obviously got his frame from here, but lucked out on the height. And she had a very calm demeanor. I’d seen smile at people in public, and at Molly and Mohinder, mostly Molly, but I knew she could do it. But with me… completely frosty.
Which is why I was more than nervous when Molly needed to go to the library for an assignment, Mrs. Suresh nominated Mohinder for the task.
“Okay,” he said. He looked at me as a person who’s throwing a lifesaver does, “We’ll go take Molly to the library.”
“No, no, no,” she said, waving her hands at Mohinder. “He doesn’t need to go. He can stay here.” That was not the first time she talked to Mohinder about me, in English, as if I weren’t in the room. At least she didn’t say ‘that man’.
And I looked at Mohinder like a person not only missed the lifesaver, but had seen it eaten by a shark.
“Uhh,” Mohinder started. I could see the wheels in his head turning, but lying on the spot was not one of his strong points. Neither was he talented making up excuses. Which leads me to believe he was the lamest teenager ever.
“I will teach him how to make eggplant curry,” she said, with a certain smile that I recognized from Angela Petrelli’s face after she was released from custody. It’s the smile of Matt Parkman’s doom.
“B-but,” Mohinder muttered, looking quite pathetically lost and confused for a man who spoke English as a third language and read books in bed with titles like “Theoretical Concepts in Molecular Biology”.
Molly had her backpack all prepared and her coat on. She was also pretty oblivious to her new Grandma’s disapproval over me. She was still pretty excited over all the stories new Grandma could tell her about Mohinder as a baby and presents from India. So she was a little less perceptive than usual and didn’t see that one of her dads needed a bail.
“Let’s go,” she said, grabbing Mohinder’s hand, pulling him out of the apartment.
Mohinder gave me a sympathetic look before he left, but I was now on my own. With my boyfriend’s mother. Who, apparently, saw our relationship as me sodomizing her only child. I don’t know. Mohinder tried to explain how homosexuality is seen in India and how it’s only semi-acceptable as long as you get married and have kids and never talk to anyone about it. But it was still pretty confusing to me. I barely understood gender roles in America.
I also started to block out what he was saying when he used the word “transsexual”. I have nothing against transsexuals or trannies, but none of that pertains to me and, frankly, it frightens me a little. I consider my sexual appetite to be pretty damn milquetoast. What I do have is plenty satisfying for me, so I don’t complain, but I am a committed relationship type of guy. I’m not attracted to men; I’m attracted to Mohinder. So talk of gender roles and transsexuals and men in dresses, well, that just isn’t for me.
If I were offered the option of getting shot over discussing any of that with Mohinder’s mom, there’s a good chance I’d take the bullet. And something told me she really didn’t want to teach me how to make eggplant curry.
After the door closed, she leveled a look at me. It wasn’t angry, but it certainly wasn’t kind. The fact that I couldn’t understand her thoughts didn’t make it any less unnerving.
“So, curry,” I said with a nervous laugh, walking over to the kitchen. “I’m usually a Spaghetti-O’s and beer type of guy.”
She either didn’t understand or didn’t find it amusing, because she didn’t respond. She poured a cup of tea and walked into the living room without saying anything. After a few seconds of me being confused in the kitchen, she shouted, “Well, come here.”
Which may have been the first thing she said directly to me.
I hurried back into the living room, where she motioned to sit down from her on the sofa. She took a sip of her tea and cleared her throat. I tensed up the way you do when your driving and realize about three seconds before you hit something that you’re going to hit something.
“Mr. Parkman,” she said.
“Call me Matt,” I interrupted.
She gave me a dry look that clearly stated she wasn’t going to call me Matt. “Mr. Parkman, I am going to be honest with you. I do not like this situation at all.”
My mouth felt dry. I didn’t know how to respond to that. I mean, I wanted her to like me, or approve, or something that didn’t make Mohinder angry and uncomfortable. But I wasn’t going to leave Mohinder to make her happy. So I couldn’t say anything.
“I believe that my son should not be wasting time pretending to be married with you, when he should be finding a respectable woman to marry in a decent household for Molly. I believe that your type of arrangement is dangerous. I believe that Mohinder should have stayed in India with his professorship and built up his academic reputation.”
Kavita sighed heavily and looked resigned. She took another sip of her tea. I sat back tensely, still with nothing to say. I was a little shocked. I hadn’t really expected her to come forth with all her misgivings. At least when she was passive-aggressively ignoring me and calling me ‘that man’ I didn’t have to look at her disapproval.
“However, Mr. Parkman, I realize that none of these things are your fault. My son has always been headstrong and stubborn, like his father. At this moment, his beliefs are not those of mine. I have to accept that. This does not mean I like this situation any more. But I love my son dearly. And he is an intelligent man, if strange. If he believes he is following the right path, I must help him.”
“That’s… That’s considerate of you, ma’am,” I said quietly. I guessed it was a sort of roundabout approval. Which, I guessed, was pretty good for someone who wasn’t talking to me twenty minutes ago.
She frowned slightly, “This is why I am talking with you. Mohinder is clever and opinionated, but he is an academic. If he insists on remaining with you, you must take care of him.”
My eyes jumped up a little. “Take care of him?”
“I did not like the idea of him coming to America. It is not a kind place for Indian professors.” She interjected strongly, “Mohinder is a very absent-minded boy! He would forget his hair were it not on his head. He is too trusting of strangers, also.”
“You don’t need to tell me, lady,” I said, before I could even stop it from coming out of my mouth. Thankfully, she only gave me a silent reprimand for being flip.
“You are American and working for the government. Mohinder looks up you, as does Molly. You are responsible for keeping them safe.”
I felt a little overwhelmed at that statement. I had already accepted that as my responsibility, but she didn’t realize how dangerous our lives got sometimes. And being told that by someone else is a little different experience than just thinking its something you should do.
“Um, yeah, I mean, I do my best.”
“It is your job!” She shouted. “You are a police man. I was impressed with what you did with that wild man the other day, but you should have arrested him.”
“Well, I was off duty, and, technically, I assaulted him. No one reported him, cause I kicked him out. So he wasn’t actually breaking the law.”
She gave me a retiring look. And I couldn’t understand her thoughts, but I was fairly certain they were along the lines of, That would never happen in my country.
She shook her head, dismissing the comment with her hand, “I need you to take care of my Mohinder. I want you to know, even though I do not want Mohinder to be doing this, I like you, Mr. Parkman.”
“You could have fooled me,” I said under my breath, but she heard. I went a little red, but I couldn’t hold it back.
She narrowed her eyes, “You are not funny, Mr. Parkman.”
I nodded. “Yes, I’ve been told that.”
“I trust you to do this.”
I felt a little weird. I mean, it felt a little like she was giving me her son. Which was strange for a couple reasons. But I also felt a little honored. Apparently, she didn’t hate me. And she trusted me. So maybe things might turn out all right. Maybe we’d even be able to laugh and tell funny, embarrassing stories about Mohinder. I can’t say I didn’t want a good relationship with a parent for once. Maybe it would just have to be Mohinder’s parent.
“Well, thank you, Kavita,” I said with a smile.
She nodded and smiled politely. “Call me, Mrs. Suresh,” she corrected.
Okay, well, maybe that would take a while.
Part Twelve: The Obligatory Parents' Night Debacle
~love from WI
JLB