Title: In Your Heart
Characters: Molly
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Through the season season premiere.
Summary: "Wherever you may go, no matter where you are, I never will be far away" -Billy Joel
Disclaimer: Not mine.

When Molly was nine, her grandfather passed away, leaving her with too many questions for a young child to answer. Where did people go when they left you? Why couldn't they just come back? Would they remember her while they were gone?

She remembers her father's strong arms, wrapping around her on the couch in the funeral parlor. The wake brought tears to his eyes, but he made her a promise she never forgot. "You'll never be alone, Molly. No matter how far away you are, the people you care about will never leave you. All you have to do is look inside yourself and they'll be there with you, in your heart."

It was the first time she saw death. It wouldn't be the last.

Three years later, Molly found herself being shuffled around between foster parents. Her parents were dead. She was left here though, due to her mother's quick thinking and insistence that Molly stay hidden in the broom closet no matter what she heard that fateful day. When she closes her eyes, Molly can still hear the sounds of the bogeyman, the screams from her parents and the sound of her racing heartbeat.

It's then that she remembers her father's promise.

She closes her eyes, tries to look inside herself but all Molly can see is the darkness beneath her eyelids. Scrunching up her forehead, Molly tries harder but only manages to exhaust herself.

Her heroes were really gone and she was alone.

Molly opens her eyes and rages at her father's broken promise. They were supposed to be there, they weren't supposed to leave her. Not for the first time since their death, she wraps her own arms around her tiny knees and cries.

A few months pass before the company helps her discover her own innate ability. Now when Molly closes her eyes, she can see the people Thompson wants her to find. She can watch them, see what glimpses of what they're doing, of who they are. They're strangers but they comfort her.

"That's a good girl," Thompson tells her, patting Molly on her head. She hates when he does that.

Still, she's almost glad they took her away from her last foster home. Despite feeling trapped and doubting that she'll ever get to leave this place, Molly begins to trust her fathers words again. All she has to do is close her eyes, look inside herself and there they are.

One day, Molly has an idea. She focuses her attention on someone from her past, one of her heroes. She sees him there, sitting in a small Midwest diner. She gasps, opening her eyes and smiles at the memory of Matt Parkman.

"Who did you see this time?" Thompson asks as he enters her room.

She doesn't trust him, so she shakes her head. "No one."

When she begins to get sick, Molly can't see him anymore. No matter how hard she tries it only ends with her feeling sick and even more alone. He's out there though, she knows this and someday their paths may cross again. She just needs to hold on a little longer.

Life is good these days. She now has two heroes, Matt and Mohinder, both of which saved her in separate ways. She's starting school, playing with kids her own age and the days of the bogeyman and being trapped within the company are over.

There are times when she misses Mohinder though. Before he left on his trip, he would cook such incredibly yummy food for her. Fish pakora, onion bhaji, gajjay halwa.. she could close her eyes and taste it now. If, that is, she wasn't too busy closing her eyes and looking for him with her mind. With every new destination, Molly tries to peer into the surroundings, so it's almost like she's with him as he travels the world, gathering support for their cause.

Not that Matt's not good company. He is. He takes care of her, fights for her remain in their foster care, talks to her about the things she's learning in class and picks her up from school at the end of the day. Except once, on the day of his detective's exam, when he was late and she started worrying that he'd been hurt. Instead of panicking, Molly simply closes her eyes and sees him, just a few bus stops away from her elementary school. When he finally gets there, she's not upset or scared, she just looks at him with a smile and says, "You're late."

While the days are great, Molly's nights are not so wonderful. She finds herself waking up, covered in sweat more and more. The worse-than-the-bogeyman-person is out there, watching her and waiting to pounce.

When she wakes from a start, jumping out of bed, Molly calms herself by focusing on another person, one she hadn't seen since the battle between Peter Petrelli and the bogeyman. She smiles, seeing him still on his computer late at night. She wonders if she'll ever meet Micah again and is too young to understand why exactly she wants to see him so much.

Old questions are still on her mind, as Molly sits on her bed and attempts to reach out and find two people, long since gone. She still wants to know where they go, where they are, even though she doubts her powers would reach that far.

She focuses her attention on the past, on strong arms wrapping around her and tender hands soothing away her worries. Before long, Molly is embraced by clouds instead of arms, in a place where everything is peaceful and quiet and warm. She can't see them but she knows they're watching over her, just like they always would be. She doesn't know if they can hear her, but Molly tells her parents she loves them anyway.