Disclaimer: Heroes is Tim Kring's intellectual playground, I'm just roaming through his sandbox for a little while. No profits being made, this is just for kicks and giggles.

Notes: After seeing the latest episode I found myself curious about how Mohinder and Molly's interaction may change with what he's going through now. Especially considering what was seen of Molly's future with Matt. The title comes from the song "Bad Luck Blue Eyes Goodbye" by The Black Crows.

"Bad Luck Blue Eyes, Goodbye"

By C.K. Blake

It's like being locked up in that tiny room beneath the stairs again, hiding from the boogeyman with her parents dead on the other side of the door. Only this time Matt isn't here to save her. He's been missing now for weeks, no one has heard from him and when she looks for him he's nowhere in her atlas, her finger just keeps moving around, trying to find a location that just isn't there. She squeezes her blue eyes shut and slams the atlas shut, because it's not doing her any good.

Every time she thinks of Matt she sees desert, a small wooden hut and a turtle. She's not really sure how that all goes together, but it's enough to tell her that he's still alive, and she gets the feeling that he's doing his best to find his way home. That is enough.

It's her other hero that has her really worried. She's been stuck with Maya looking after her now for the last two weeks, cooking, cleaning, and taking her to school. Mohinder's been away for so long, but it's not like it was before. He doesn't call anymore. She's tried to close her eyes to find him in her minds eye, without using her atlas, but all she seems to find when she tries is a firmly shut door. She's afraid to try finding him using her atlas.

He's her hero, he fought so hard to keep that man with the glasses from shooting her. Made her better when she was sick. He can't leave her now. Not now that Matt is missing and can't find his way back.

She looks up at the clock, Maya is down the street at the grocers. She takes in a breath, opens her atlas again, her eyes closed as she takes a thumbtack in her hand and concentrates on Mohinder. Her hand trembles for a moment and she winces against that shut door, but finally her hand responds and the tack finds its mark.

When she opens her eyes she recognizes the location. She takes in a sharp breath, knowing how close he is. She pulls the tack away, goes into her room to get the allowance she's been saving for the last few months. She then gets her backpack and heads out of the apartment. Once downstairs she waves down a taxi, not as easy as it looks, but when she starts waving the cash at the passing cabs one finally stops for her.

She gets in the back and gives him the address. Nearly twenty minutes later she's standing in front of the door of Mohinder's private lab. She remembers that it once belonged to a painter. Mohinder told her that once, that he was a good man who had a lot of problems and a special ability like hers. He could paint the future. She shakes the thought away. Now is not the time to get distracted. She's here for Mohinder.

She raises her hand and knocks on the door. She waits a moment, hears movement from the other side of the door, and then she knocks again. His voice is sharp and clear. "Go away. I'm not seeing anyone."

"Mohinder," she calls out, her voice small and hurt.

A moment later the door cracks open, not enough for her to get a good look at the man on the other side of the door, but she knows something is wrong, she can feel it in the twisting in her stomach. She takes in a deep breath and wrinkles her nose at the funny smell coming from inside the laboratory.

"Molly?" he asks, his voice deeper than usual, gruffer, but still soft, and gentle. He's still the Mohinder she knows. "What are you doing here?"

She swallows thickly and says, "Matt's still gone, and I don't have anyone else. Mohinder, please, please come home."

"Oh Molly," he whispers, and she can hear something in her voice and that twisting in her stomach sharpens. "I can't. Something… Something's happening to me and I can't undo it or stop it. I… Oh Molly. I could hurt you."

She shakes her head vehemently. "You could never hurt me, Mohinder. I know you. Please, just… Can I come in? I want to see you. I miss you. Maya doesn't even check my homework like you do. Please. I brought it with me. Just let me come inside and see you."

"No Molly. Not like this. You can't see me like this," he replies through the crack in the door, and Molly feels the warm sting in her eyes as the tears rise and then slip down her cheeks.

"You're still my hero! You're still Mohinder," she pleads. "I don't care what's happened to you! You won't hurt me and I want to see you! You have to look over my homework, and take care of me, and I need you! I need you and Matt, but Matt is gone right now. You're right here! Why can't you let me in! Please Mohinder!"

Hot, fat tears roll down her cheeks, and she reaches out, her small hand closing around the door, and she can hear that familiar sigh of his, she knows that he's going to give in. "Please Molly. Not like this," he manages, his voice cracking on her name.

Still he pulls open the door, and the first thing she notices is how dark it is inside. The door is shut behind her, and she shivers a little as she drops her backpack to the floor and looks around, allowing her eyes to adjust. She turns to look at him, but his back is to her, and he's wearing a hooded sweatshirt, the hood pulled up. He's shaking, and she wonders why.

She reaches out with her small hand, places it against the curve of his spine and he seems to break as he shifts in a movement so quick that one moment he's standing and in the next he's kneeling, his back still turned to her.

"Mohinder?" she asks quietly, and slowly draws closer to him.

She reaches for the edge of the hood of his sweatshirt and he stops shaking, takes in a sharp breath, and as she pulls the hood back he whispers, "I'm so sorry Molly."

She lets out a gasp as she moves around to see his face. His hair is still the same, soft, curly, black, but his face, the skin is cracked and oozy, and kind of reptilian. His features are the same beneath the discolored greenish skin, that was once a rich brown. She swallows thickly, looks into his dark eyes and there she sees it. No matter what's happened to him, he's still Mohinder, that doesn't change. He's still the man that was willing to die for her. Who's cared for her, and become her family.

With a deep breath she reaches out, her soft, small fingers gliding down the rough, scaly skin of his face, and he closes his eyes at the sensation, tears seeping from the corners of his eyes, tears of regret for his foolishness. She wipes away the tears, and pulls her hands back, the ooze congealing on the pads of her fingers. She makes a slight face but then wipes her hand on her jeans, and decides that this is okay.

She throws her arms around him, and he's stunned, the wind is knocked out of him and he lands on his butt, no longer in a crouch, with an arm full of Molly, who's hugging him like she never wants to let go, like he's still her hero.

He allows his own arms to wrap around her, running his dry and cracked hands through her soft hair as he trembles at the show of emotions from this incredibly strong little girl.

"You're still my Mohinder," she whispers over and over again, and he closes his eyes fiercely, holding her close and realizing that she's what's left of his humanity, she's his family, and it's okay.

He feels the rush of his new abilities, the way it's transformed him, but with this precious creature in his arms he knows something inside of him is still human, and while he'd had the resolve to send her away, to protect her from ever seeing him this way, from really protecting himself and his wounded pride, he realizes that life isn't that simple. Life has found him, given him purpose, and as he looks into her blue eyes he knows, there is no telling Molly Walker goodbye.

End.