Title: I Have Two Dads
Characters: Molly, Mohinder/Matt
Spoilers: Up to Season 2
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1456
Summary: Molly talks about standing up for family and what their relationship means to her.
I love my parents. I do. I'm really rather happy that Matt and Mohinder found each other. They complete each other in a way that I'm almost envious of these days. I'm the outcast of the school, the weird kid that never really grew out of her awkward phase. I don't have anyone that really understands me in the way that my two dads do for each other.
Except maybe Micah. He understands what I've been through, what I'm still going through with these powers. He lives too far away for us to be anything other than email pen pals though.
Anyway, my dads.. yeah, they're great. And it wasn't easy for them to accept their relationship. For starters, they're very different. I mean, like really.. really.. different.
Mohinder is quieter and loves to travel. He goes to all these exotic places and brings me back knickknacks from all over the world. He loves to cook and read and figure out genetic quandaries in that big head of his.
Matt on the other hand, is loud and funny. He loves football (which Mohinder calls a 'ridiculous game that's bent on bringing out the worst of mankind'), junk food and protecting his family. I think he also likes arguing with Mohinder because that's all they ever seem to do, well, that is.. when they're not making out or making me do my homework.
They've been through so many fights in the past, about big things like how close to morally gray each of them wanted to get-- to little things like what we were going to eat for dinner. There've been some really killer verbal brawls in the Parkman-Suresh household. Most days, I find it a miracle that they're still together, but they are and I think we're all the better for it.
But it doesn't make going to school any easier. I think I was in middle school, probably seventh grade when people started picking up on the fact that I had two fathers who were very much in love with each other. I'm not sure how it got around school but I'm betting it was Erin Brockman.
Erin thought I was trying to steal her boyfriend that year just because I happened to know where he was every minute of the day. I didn't bother to mention that I happen to know where everyone on earth is every minute of the day. I'm a walking Cerebro for god's sake (you know, from X-men.. oh gosh, there I go with the geek jokes again. You'll have to excuse me. No one else gets them either.. well, no one except Micah).
The kids at school don't tease me about my family anymore. I put an abrupt stop to that. You see, I was sitting in math class one day, minding my own business when this kid Sean from my class started picking on me. He was being real quiet about it but I could hear him taunting me all through class 'Molly's got two fathers' and 'I wonder if she's going to turn out to be gay too' and 'maybe she's already a big lesbo'.
I sat there, pretending to be focused on my favorite class but all I could hear was his teasing from two rows behind me. It wasn't anything new. I was a favorite target at my school and had been so for a number of years already. I didn't know that that day was going to be different.
When the bell rang and ended class, I walked out the door and kept my head down so Sean wouldn't see me crying. He kept at mocking me even as we walked out, even as I was crying and then suddenly, I knew I couldn't take it anymore. I grabbed my school bag full of heavy textbooks from off my shoulders and clocked him in the jaw.
We were both so stunned all we could do was stare at each other. I think he was surprised I fought back. It only took me a few seconds to realize that my fighting back was going to get my little, waifish ass kicked promptly. There's nothing like hitting the popular kid (why did he have to be popular?) in the jaw with a twenty pounds of books that sends the taller, meaner, more popular kids after you.
One of his friends yelled, “Get her!”
And the chase was on. I ran for my life, through the other students in the hall that were milling out of their classrooms, through the whole floor until I stopped at the bathroom. I ran into one of the stalls, locked the door and stood on the toilet, hoping no one would find me.
It's funny that no matter how many apocalypses I live through or how many times I fear for my life, it never gets any easier. I thought they were going to kill me; they even said as much as the pounded the stall door. I whispered a few prayers, not for myself but for my family. I didn't want them to know their little girl got beat up by the popular kids because her parents were gay. I thought it would hurt them.
“We know you're in there,” one of the girls said. “Now come out so we can beat the living shit out of you.”
Oh yeah, like that would have been the smart thing to do. All the attacks on my life in the past taught me one thing: never come out of your hiding spot until you're sure the monster has gone away!
“I can't believe you did that to him,” another said. “What a bitch!”
Again, they didn't know what they were talking about. He teased me all throughout class about things that made him sound like the biggest homophobic asshole on the planet, and somehow I was the one people pegged as the bitch. See, this is where being different gets you, stuck in a bathroom stall with people calling you a bitch.
The bell for the next class rang. After a few minutes, the girls left so they wouldn't get in trouble for being late. When I was sure it was safe to come out and everyone was gone, I opened the door and walked myself to the nurses office. I spent the whole rest of the day pretending I had a stomach ache.
I kept expecting to get called down to the principal's office so I could get suspended for fighting. No one in that school, not even the administration, would have stuck by me if Sean told them about me fighting him. Thankfully, he was not only homophobic but also turned out to be a pretty big sexist jerk who couldn't stand the laughter that would have followed if he said a girl almost beat him up.
That night, I came home and did my homework and tried to think up an excuse so I could stay home the next day. I couldn't go back to school and face all the kids who probably still wanted to kill me. I was pretty much terrified but I wouldn't let on about it. I couldn't tell my fathers about what happened, I was too embarrassed.
Mohinder would have grounded me for fighting anyway. Matt would probably tell me I did a good job protecting the family and sneak me in some pizza after I was grounded.
When I eventually came out of my room that night, I still didn't have any good plan for getting out of school. I did have a good idea of why I was fighting though, because when I walked into the living room, my two dads were making out on the couch. I stifled a grin, excused myself and tiptoed back into my room to see if Micah was on Instant Messenger. I realized then that we should all be so lucky as to find someone that makes us so happy that we're still making out with them like a bunch of school kids even years after getting together.
My family might be a little different and the stupid people might still argue over whether it's right or moral or sane for our family to even exist, but I know where I stand on the issue. It doesn't matter who tries to knock my down, I'm going to keep standing up for my fathers and their love for each other. There is so much hate in this world to overcome, so many bigger obstacles to deal with that love should not be one of them.
I love my fathers and if that makes me weird, well.. I was weird already, so does it matter?
-The End-