Title: Welcome to the Family
Author: Elisabeth
Rating: PG
Fandoms: Heroes/Brothers & Sisters
Pairing/Characters: Heroes: Molly Walker; Brothers & Sisters: all the Walkers
Word Count: 935
Summary: Molly is sent to live with her distant Walker relatives.
Warnings: None
Spoilers: Heroes: Slight spoilers for episode 3.01 The Second Coming, Brothers & Sisters: through the end of season 2.
Disclaimer: I claim no ownership over these characters. I am merely borrowing them from Tim Kring et al and/or Ken Olin & Jon Robin Baitz.
Feedback: Yes please! It makes me happy and keeps me writing.
Betas: Huge thanks to eowyn_girl and cold_queen_5 for their help with this story.
Molly Walker sat at one end of the dining room table, wishing that she could hide from all of the not-so-subtle stares she was receiving from around the table. These people were supposed to be related to her, though she'd never met any of them before today.
After the Boogeyman had disappeared, Mohinder didn't think it was safe for Molly to stay with him, alone. Matt was off trying to save the world and they didn't know when he'd be back, so Mohinder had reluctantly retrieved the information Matt had hidden away months ago - the location of William Walker, a distant cousin of her father's, and Molly's only living relative. Even though William was now dead, he had a family that was more than happy to take her in.
Molly had vaguely known about William, had met him once, but after everything that had happened, she felt safer with Matt and Mohinder. She had begged them to let her stay with them, rather than be shipped off to a relative she barely knew. At the time they had agreed, but Mohinder had explained to her that he now thought she would be safer far away from their world of people with special abilities. Despite being skeptical, Molly agreed, and now found herself surrounded by her new family.
The woman at the opposite end of the table from her, Nora, the mom, cleared her throat, causing everyone to turn their eyes away from Molly and back to their food."How is your meal, dear?" Nora asked. She had warm eyes that made you feel like she really cared about you.
Molly glanced at her barely touched pasta, then back to the eager expression on Nora's face. "It's really good. I'm just not that hungry."
"Of course you're not," one of the daughters, Sarah, said. She was the one who ran the family company and had kids who were a little younger than her. She had a hard, tired look about her, until you saw her with her kids.
"So, Molly, you're from New York?" Kevin asked. He was the lawyer in the family and the most cynical. He lived with a man called Scotty, just like Matt and Mohinder.
"Uh huh. Well, not always. I lived in LA until the Boogeyman killed my parents. Then I went to live with Matt and Mohinder in New York. They're my heroes."
"Why aren't you still with them?" Kitty asked. She was married to the handsome Senator. She worked for him, too.
Molly shuddered. "The Boogeyman found us. We thought he was dead, but he wasn't. I should have known that, but I didn't want to think about him at all. Mohinder didn't think it was safe for me with them anymore."
"What boogeyman?" Rebecca kindly asked. Molly wasn't really sure what her relation was to the family. Rebecca was Justin's girlfriend, but she had a feeling there was more to it than that.
Molly's eyes widened, afraid to say his name aloud. In a voice barely above a whisper, she said, "Sylar."
There was a collective gasp from the adults at the table. They all recalled hearing about the serial killer who cut open people's heads. There had even been a murder right here in Los Angeles, a brutal killing of a man and his wife that had been in all the newspapers. With a sickening feeling, they realized these must have been Molly's parents.
"Oh, you poor thing!" Nora exclaimed, standing to come around and hug Molly. "When Dr. Suresh said that you had been through several traumas, I had no idea it was because of that psychopath."
"Are you telling us that this Sylar guy is still alive?" Tommy asked. "Still killing people?"
Molly buried her face in Nora's side and nodded. "Mohinder said he was sick for a while, which forced him to go into hiding, but he got Mohinder to make him better by threatening to kill me."
"Enough of this talk," Nora said, stroking Molly's hair, while glaring at her children. "It's over and you're here now. You're safe with us."
"How are we supposed to keep her safe from a psychotic killer?" Kevin mumbled to Scotty. He was promptly shushed by most of the people at the table.
"No one knows she's here except that Mohinder guy, right?" Justin ventured. Nora nodded. "She's safe if no one thinks to look for her here."
"What about the other man she was living with?" Robert, the Senator, asked. "What does he say about all of this?"
Molly wiped her eyes and pushed away from Nora's comforting embrace. "He's not around right now. He had to go to Texas, but now he's in..." Molly closed her eyes and concentrated, "Africa." She frowned, wondering what he was doing there. "Mohinder couldn't reach him and he didn't want to wait for Matt to come home and risk the Boogeyman coming back for me."
"Let's have no more talk of the Boogeyman or anything unpleasant," Nora insisted, sitting back in her seat at the other end of the table. "Molly is a part of this family now and we are going to do everything in our power to make her feel welcome and safe. After all, Molly is a Walker, and Walkers look after each other."
Molly looked at all of the earnest faces around her and knew that what Nora said was true. These people may not have special abilities like her and Matt, but she knew that they would do whatever they had to, to make her feel safe. Which made her feel safer already.
The End
Copyright© September 2008