MCA #2, Late Monday Morning
Mohinder wondered if all children needed as little sleep as his two recent additions. A week ago he'd been hoping to spend the next few days relaxing and... Well, that hadn't happened, and he'd spent the weekend dosed up with coffee, grateful at the caffiene's return and doing his best to ignore the two sets of eyes that looked equally disapponted.
"Coffee makes your head hurt," Michael had said, and Alex had offered him a glass of juice as a replacement.
For now though, they were banished from the kitchen to the living room, settling relatively quietly, while Mohinder put together something to eat. Mohinder hadn't developed the instinct for when being quiet was a bad thing.
Michael had crawled under the table, until only his feet were sticking out. "Told you," he said, nodding emphatically enough that his head knocked the underside of the table. Wincing, but not crying - not in front of a little girl - he scuttled out backwards, his foot hooking into and pulling a cable behind him. Something thudded onto the carpet.
"It wasn't me."
Alex wasn't listening. She pulled herself into a cross-legged seat and started pressng buttons on the newly charged cell phone. But the buttons were in the wrong place and she couldn't quite remember her home phone number. She frowned, "It's not working," and mashed her fingers against the keypad. Oooh, she grinned up at Michael as it rang and waved it at him. She meant to do that.
Even Fandom probabilities couldn't see a random pressing of keys connect to a New York cell phone. Accessing speed dial was much easier.
"Hey, Suresh, what's up?"
Alex looked at the phone. "Why are you on my daddy's phone?" she asked.
"Excuse me?" Matt checked the name and number on his cell display. He recognised Mohinder's name and number without needing to untangle them. It didn't sound like him, but, "Is this some kind of joke, Mohinder?"
"No, I'm Alex, Mohinder's making breakfast again. I'm going to have eggs and Daddy lets me cut their heads open with a knife." Alex said, less than accurately.
Michael shook his head at that and continued taking the remote control apart.
"What?" Matt was losing any sense he had in the conversation. "Mohinder doesn't have any other kids." Except he didn't know, did he? He thought that Suresh would have mentioned something as important as that, right? They were close enough for that to come up. Anything else would be a lie.
Matt frowned in thought. "Can you go get your dad for me? Tell him it's Matt."
"'kay," Alex told the phone. She dropped it and trotted off to the kitchen.
Mohinder's shirt was the nearest thing she could reach and Alex gave it a tug and another one and then another just to make sure he'd noticed.
Checking the heat was downed down low, Mohinder turned to Alex and quickly checked she was uninjured. Paranoia seemed to be a trait he hadn't unlearned. "Alex. What can I do?"
"There's a man on the phone and he wants to talk to you and can I have a drink?" Alex looked up hopefully while Mohinder found and half-filled a plastic mug for her.
"Of course," Mohinder said passing the mug over carefully. "Are you sure? I wasn't expecting anyone."
Dad could really move fast when he tried, thought Michael. Not fast like Uncle Peter, but he'd hardly said, "Hi, dad!" to the phone before his dad was right there.
Michael held on to the phone; he had questions to ask. "And why haven't you come found me? Dad's here but not you're not and why did you say I couldn't have a little sister when she's here?" Michael paused for breath, but not long enough for a reply. "Because I've got one and we went to the park and Dad didn't even have any ice cream and we got some and I got chocolate."
If the first voice had been a surprise the second left Matt internally flailing. When he regained his voice, Matt said, "Look, this isn't funny," and didn't hear the changeover of cell phone in Fandom into Mohinder's hand, "I know I've been preoccupied - a little - but it would have been nine months. And I know I don't want to go back to how it was, but it could have been my baby, you know. In some other world and to some other Matt Parkman who never chased after Molly."
Mohinder blinked, he hadn't realised it had been that long. "I'm sorry." A pause. "But I'm glad you did."
"Hey, that's what I'm here for," said Matt, more brightly. "What's going on over there?"
"I..." Mohinder briefly considered lying, then took a few steps back from Michael and Alex.
"Come on," Michael glanced at Mohinder, then tugged a wide-eyed Alex towards the kitchen. "Dad's having grown-up time." He whispered the next, "Maybe we can find the cookies."
"We appear to have a son," said Mohinder. "In some future or other, Michael Suresh is a making our lives interesting." His voice softened at the end, before he contined, "And in another I have a daughter called Alex." However reconciled he was to his daughter's presence mentioning her father was something he wasn't prepared to do.
"You do realise we're two guys, Mohinder." Matt didn't entirely believe what he was hearing. "You don't need me to tell you that can't happen."
"It's certainly an unusual way of having a family," Mohinder smiled, keeping an ear out for sounds from the kitchen. "And I don't know how biologically it's possible. I have theories, but that's all they are at the moment."
"He does look like you," he added.
"Poor kid," Matt said reflexively. Then checked a bleep on his phone. Matt opened up the sent pictures and looked at a boy with a mouthful of ice cream and a girl with a mouthful of candy. "You make very pretty children."
"Thank you," said Mohinder, humouring him. "I'll bear that in mind."
"I'll let you know when I know anything more," Mohinder continued.
Then a clatter and a few moments later a sheepish looking Michael looking round the doorway to Mohinder. "Found them," and Alex followed carrying a tin.
"So somewhere you and me and M-named kids are permanent," said Matt, mostly thinking out loud.
"It would seem so," replied Mohinder. A moment of quiet as he looked at his paradoxical children. "There are certainly worse futures."
"Yeah," said Matt, agreeing even without memories of one. "I really should go."
"Of course," Mohinder agreed, and called the children over to yell their goodbyes before closing the connection.
Michael shuffled back to his mission of taking apart the old VCR Mohinder had found, spraying crumbs as he did so. Creeping up to the chair Mohinder had sat down in Alex asked quietly, "Can we call my dad soon?"
Mohinder did his best to stiffle his inward groan. "I don't know your father's number. We can look for it tomorrow," he said, putting it off. Instead he folded a sheet of paper from his notepad, and started distracting Alex with paper aeroplanes.
[Establishy, and NFI, but OOC AOK]
"Coffee makes your head hurt," Michael had said, and Alex had offered him a glass of juice as a replacement.
For now though, they were banished from the kitchen to the living room, settling relatively quietly, while Mohinder put together something to eat. Mohinder hadn't developed the instinct for when being quiet was a bad thing.
Michael had crawled under the table, until only his feet were sticking out. "Told you," he said, nodding emphatically enough that his head knocked the underside of the table. Wincing, but not crying - not in front of a little girl - he scuttled out backwards, his foot hooking into and pulling a cable behind him. Something thudded onto the carpet.
"It wasn't me."
Alex wasn't listening. She pulled herself into a cross-legged seat and started pressng buttons on the newly charged cell phone. But the buttons were in the wrong place and she couldn't quite remember her home phone number. She frowned, "It's not working," and mashed her fingers against the keypad. Oooh, she grinned up at Michael as it rang and waved it at him. She meant to do that.
Even Fandom probabilities couldn't see a random pressing of keys connect to a New York cell phone. Accessing speed dial was much easier.
"Hey, Suresh, what's up?"
Alex looked at the phone. "Why are you on my daddy's phone?" she asked.
"Excuse me?" Matt checked the name and number on his cell display. He recognised Mohinder's name and number without needing to untangle them. It didn't sound like him, but, "Is this some kind of joke, Mohinder?"
"No, I'm Alex, Mohinder's making breakfast again. I'm going to have eggs and Daddy lets me cut their heads open with a knife." Alex said, less than accurately.
Michael shook his head at that and continued taking the remote control apart.
"What?" Matt was losing any sense he had in the conversation. "Mohinder doesn't have any other kids." Except he didn't know, did he? He thought that Suresh would have mentioned something as important as that, right? They were close enough for that to come up. Anything else would be a lie.
Matt frowned in thought. "Can you go get your dad for me? Tell him it's Matt."
"'kay," Alex told the phone. She dropped it and trotted off to the kitchen.
Mohinder's shirt was the nearest thing she could reach and Alex gave it a tug and another one and then another just to make sure he'd noticed.
Checking the heat was downed down low, Mohinder turned to Alex and quickly checked she was uninjured. Paranoia seemed to be a trait he hadn't unlearned. "Alex. What can I do?"
"There's a man on the phone and he wants to talk to you and can I have a drink?" Alex looked up hopefully while Mohinder found and half-filled a plastic mug for her.
"Of course," Mohinder said passing the mug over carefully. "Are you sure? I wasn't expecting anyone."
Dad could really move fast when he tried, thought Michael. Not fast like Uncle Peter, but he'd hardly said, "Hi, dad!" to the phone before his dad was right there.
Michael held on to the phone; he had questions to ask. "And why haven't you come found me? Dad's here but not you're not and why did you say I couldn't have a little sister when she's here?" Michael paused for breath, but not long enough for a reply. "Because I've got one and we went to the park and Dad didn't even have any ice cream and we got some and I got chocolate."
If the first voice had been a surprise the second left Matt internally flailing. When he regained his voice, Matt said, "Look, this isn't funny," and didn't hear the changeover of cell phone in Fandom into Mohinder's hand, "I know I've been preoccupied - a little - but it would have been nine months. And I know I don't want to go back to how it was, but it could have been my baby, you know. In some other world and to some other Matt Parkman who never chased after Molly."
Mohinder blinked, he hadn't realised it had been that long. "I'm sorry." A pause. "But I'm glad you did."
"Hey, that's what I'm here for," said Matt, more brightly. "What's going on over there?"
"I..." Mohinder briefly considered lying, then took a few steps back from Michael and Alex.
"Come on," Michael glanced at Mohinder, then tugged a wide-eyed Alex towards the kitchen. "Dad's having grown-up time." He whispered the next, "Maybe we can find the cookies."
"We appear to have a son," said Mohinder. "In some future or other, Michael Suresh is a making our lives interesting." His voice softened at the end, before he contined, "And in another I have a daughter called Alex." However reconciled he was to his daughter's presence mentioning her father was something he wasn't prepared to do.
"You do realise we're two guys, Mohinder." Matt didn't entirely believe what he was hearing. "You don't need me to tell you that can't happen."
"It's certainly an unusual way of having a family," Mohinder smiled, keeping an ear out for sounds from the kitchen. "And I don't know how biologically it's possible. I have theories, but that's all they are at the moment."
"He does look like you," he added.
"Poor kid," Matt said reflexively. Then checked a bleep on his phone. Matt opened up the sent pictures and looked at a boy with a mouthful of ice cream and a girl with a mouthful of candy. "You make very pretty children."
"Thank you," said Mohinder, humouring him. "I'll bear that in mind."
"I'll let you know when I know anything more," Mohinder continued.
Then a clatter and a few moments later a sheepish looking Michael looking round the doorway to Mohinder. "Found them," and Alex followed carrying a tin.
"So somewhere you and me and M-named kids are permanent," said Matt, mostly thinking out loud.
"It would seem so," replied Mohinder. A moment of quiet as he looked at his paradoxical children. "There are certainly worse futures."
"Yeah," said Matt, agreeing even without memories of one. "I really should go."
"Of course," Mohinder agreed, and called the children over to yell their goodbyes before closing the connection.
Michael shuffled back to his mission of taking apart the old VCR Mohinder had found, spraying crumbs as he did so. Creeping up to the chair Mohinder had sat down in Alex asked quietly, "Can we call my dad soon?"
Mohinder did his best to stiffle his inward groan. "I don't know your father's number. We can look for it tomorrow," he said, putting it off. Instead he folded a sheet of paper from his notepad, and started distracting Alex with paper aeroplanes.
[Establishy, and NFI, but OOC AOK]