I'll Protect You

Participants:

molly_icon.gif matt_icon.gif

Scene Title I'll Protect You
Synopsis Molly wakes up to find someone who looks like Matt in her cell. They discuss their future, but sleep is a more pressing need.
Date June 2, 2009

Pinehearst - Lower Level


There are no windows in this small room, and the nature of his internment here isn’t going to endear Matt Parkman to hospitals. It’s sickeningly sterile. The only upside is that Pinehearst outfits their cells better than the Company does. Matt was even able to keep his suit, though his sidearm, phone, and all identifying material was stripped from him.

But all the worry and turmoil of his coming here and the ramifications of it nag at the back of his mind as he sits on the bed designated as his, staring at the young girl – young woman – who is sleeping peacefully in the other. He hasn’t had the heart to wake her yet, despite having been deposited in the room at least an hour ago. Matt can’t imagine true restful sleep being easy in a place this, and it isn’t something he’d want to deprive her of.

Especially since he has no idea what they’ve been doing to her.

Peaceful sleep.. this is one of the rare nights that Molly gets that. The young woman's blonde hair falls in her face as her chest rises and falls. There is no smile on this face though, so either she's not dreaming.. or the dreams just aren't all that pleasant.

Slowly she opens her eyes and yawns as she wakes. Vision blurry since she has just woken up. "Who.." the question dies as she focuses in on Matt. Her gaze narrows and she backs against the wall. "Stop it." A clear warning.

Though already tense, Matt's muscles and nerves tighten even moreso at Molly's reaction to him. It takes him a moment to process the response, given his current state. "Molly," he says softly, his eyes narrowed with caution though the rest of him remains still. "Molly, it's me. Really."

Had he not been stripped of his abilities - both as an evolved individual and an agent of the United States government, surely he could prove it. But Matt is helpless, even when it comes to something as simple as this. Frustrated, he presses his lips together and shakes his head, eyes closing. "I… I can't make you sure. Petrelli…"

These months of captivity have changed something within Molly, not for the better either. She doesn't relax and she curls her fist. "I'm /not/ stupid."

With a cry, she leaps at Matt. Tears falling from her eyes. The girl knows that if Matt is an illusion then it will do no good, but apparently she just doesn't care anymore.

"Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!" She screams as she tries to hit Matt in the face, chest, or anywhere really.

Before Matt can respond to Molly verbally, he's being leaped at. Wincing at the sharp, passionate blows, he does his best to try and grab Molly's wrists and restrain her, but that doesn't stop her from landing a few good blows to his head and chest.

"Molly!" he grunts once he gets his breath back. "Molly, it's me. I can't get in your head and prove it, and I've got a good feeling you can't see that is is me. But it is."

There's protocol for this - protocol that Matt put in place when Peter decided to play at being Matt Parkman, when Sylar was discovered to be able to mimic appearances. But it's all for naught, if Molly is convinced it isn't him. Maury could dig through her brain to find the answers to any secret question Matt could use to validate his identity.

The clairvoyant finally sags against Matt and breathes a sigh. "Even if you aren't real.. it'll be nice to pretend that you are.. for a moment. I miss you so much." Her voice is tiny now and it's the voice of the little girl that Matt saved so long ago.

She breathes heavily and shakes her head. "It doesn't matter anymore…

they are never gonna let me out, or /us/ I should say." Molly's eyes close and pushes into Matt more, just wanting to hug the man that she calls Dad. Whether he is real or not, at least she can have some sort of comfort for a while.

The way Matt holds Molly to him is real, if anything else. It's as desperate a cling as hers to him, as if she might disappear if he lets go. "I missed you too," he whispers.

But her fatalism causes his throat to tighten. He can't buy into that however likely it may be. "The man who runs this place is the president's father. And I don't care how good Maury might be, he can't pretend he's me for long before someone figures him out." He's more talking to himself than Molly, his words containing a slight edge to them - an edge Molly is surely familiar with her adoptive father being frustrated.

"He took it away from me.. I can't find people now." It's Molly's biggest fear, the gift that she had come to depend on so much being ripped away from her. Molly breathes and looks up at Matt with wide eyes.

"He's evil and he has to be stopped." The fearful gaze narrows and turns to a pointed one. "He tricked me, I thought he was you.." She shakes her head.

It's not exactly the right time to tell Molly she's met what amounts to a grandfather. No, not at all, if ever. He holds her a bit tighter, knowing that same feeling of helplessness all to well, though he's dealt with it for only a matter of hours rather than her… what? Weeks? Months.

"We'll get out of here," he promises hoarsely. "We will, Molly. And once we're out? Then we'll make him pay for what he's done." To them, and who knows how many others.

Matt's face is set with determination, though his eyes twinkle due to the thin layer of tears that have gathered there. But they are held with the same strength that holds his jaw firm and Molly close.

"I want to help, I /need/ to help stop him." Molly says quietly and then pushes away from Matt gently so that she can sit with her back against the wall.

She looks at Matt's face and smiles softly. "No more sadness, we're back together again." The smile doesn't reach her eyes though.

"Does the president know we're here?" she asks with a hopeful look to Matt. "Or is he evil to?”

Matt remains where he is seated on the bed, his shoulders slumping when Molly moves away. He shakes his head, then brings a hand up to rake through his short hair. "I don't know, hon. Maybe. Maybe not. But I can't find out while we're in here." Tracy wouldn't exactly be the person to ask, either.

He lifts his eyes to her after a moment and squints. He's kept her in the shadows for so long…no wonder she wants to help. Especially now. "Yeah, okay." Because he'll of course keep her as close and safe as he can. "But you have to start with telling me everything you know about this place."

"I don't know nothing at all. I've only been in this room. It's some sort of lab place?" Molly tilts her head. She hasn't had many visitors and only some visits from different doctors every so often. "Nobody answers my questions here. It's like I don't exist sometimes."

Matt sighs. "I should have paid more attention," he mutters to himself. He had plenty of opportunity to look into the minds of others. What did he hear? He leans forward, holding his head in his hands.

"Yes, it's a lab," he says after a moment of deep thought. "They're… experimenting." On something strange. Something people don't experiment on. It was a whisper then…when? Before. But what was it?

"Experimenting.. how?" Molly tilts her head and draws her knees up to her chin. "They've drawn blood from me a few times.." Molly says and shrugs, she couldn't really stop them. But the doctor did get a few scratches and claw marks on him before it was over.

"I…I can't remember, Molly." Matt sighs, then lays back, his legs still bent and hanging over the side of the hospital bed. It's easy to see how exhausted he is, and it's not hard to imagine why.

The memory pain of Arthur Petrelli's telekinetic grip combined with the ripping away of his power only compound the feeling of vulnerability, of being so caged.

"Try to sleep." Molly advises her dad and she comes to lay her head on his shoulder, acting more like the kid he once knew before she started to grow up.

"Just lay here, I'll watch over you." She promises softly.

Molly guarding him brings a smile to Matt's face, but he doesn't open his eyes once the lids of slid closed. He brings an arm around to hold her, rubbing her shoulder for a moment before he lets sleep envelop him.


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