Title: Strangers When We Meet
Author: SecretAgentSmutGirl
Summary: In a world of super powers, having two dads and working for a morally gray Company it's easy for a stranger to become one of the family.
Disclaimer:I don't even own the computer this was typed on yet.
Notes:I thought it was just weird enough to make perfect sense.

ooo

The lights of the runway sparkle like a hundred perfectly aligned lightning bugs and Mohinder wonders if it would be easier for the plane to crash, to careen at however many miles an hour right off the clock work runway, for everything to just stop and cease to be. He wonders if he's being a coward, if idle thoughts bordering on suicidal thoughts bear any consideration at all so he doesn't even bother being ashamed.

After all, no one he knows stays dead for long anyway.

Tonight it's Boston, last night it was Lisbon. The night before that he can't even remember, it could have been Hong Kong or it could have been Shanghai but all he's really sure of was that the room service had been cold and the operator had not allowed him to place any calls to New York.

How long has he been away from home, rather his homeland, when all of Asia starts to mix together? It seems Americanism is infectious. He'll add it to the docket of infectious diseases to neutralize next year, the schedule for this year is packed.

He's exiting immigration when the snapping of bubble-gum informs him that he's back in the States and that means the Company will have sent a minder. Elle is blonde and dangerous, two apparent requirements for all of his partners, but she's no Nikki. There is a distinct lack of empathy for his jet lag as she launches into a mile-a-minute recap of her entire day and Mohinder wishes shaking her would shut her up, when in reality she would probably take it as foreplay.

As hard up for sex as he's been on this most painful of lecture tours, that is one place he does not want to go. Days from now, when he's finally home and not in perpetual academic motion, Matt will pull that particular thought from his jumbled brain and laugh until he hurts himself. For the moment, it is cooly discarded as he slips into the passenger seat of the rental car.

When he falls asleep, an hour outside the city, Elle is still talking.

ooo

Molly likes Elle because she's honest and most adults are such bad liars, painfully bad liars, especially her two dads. Sometimes she has to lie to keep her dads from worrying, but she never has to lie to Elle. That's why she doesn't mind that she hangs around a lot after Sylar came back, no matter if it was a short visit to bring Mohinder home or dinner with the family.

It is an added bonus that something about the blonde makes Matt laugh at the sight of her, because he doesn't laugh enough anymore, and Mohinder losing his temper is always funny, and it always happens whenever Elle is around.

When she was sick, after her parents died, Elle had been the only person to visit with her before Mohinder came. She'd brought her tabloid magazines and talked to her like she was an adult, instead of a baby like Elle's father or Mr. Thompson had, and she'd showed her how her powers worked by setting up books and zapping them like an Old West sharp shooter.

So when Mohinder was away and Matt was at work, Molly was glad when Elle could watch her after school. That meant junk food and watching gossip shows on E!, all those normal pre-teen girl things that were not normally to be found in her male dominated world.

So she didn't even think about lying when Elle asked, just as she'd shoved an entire double stuffed Oreo into her mouth, if Matt and Mohinder slept together.

"Sure," she'd confirmed, using her hand to stop cookie crumbs from falling out of her mouth. "There is only one bed."

Elle merely looked speculative at the news, twisting an Oreo apart to scrap the cream with her teeth before discarding the cookie. "Cool."

On the television a countdown of celebrity meltdowns was showing Brittany Spears cursing at a man with a camera, drawing both her and Elle's attention back to the program as it was clearly more interesting than conversation and there were more cookies to be eaten.

ooo

It's a Saturday morning and Mohinder is away, so Matt settles himself at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and the newspaper. Molly is watching cartoons in her room and he is so supremely relaxed that something has to go wrong. When Elle walks in, albeit with a happy good morning and fresh a fresh Starbucks latte, Matt realizes that in giving her the extra set of keys he'd been set up for some kind of cosmic joke.

"You can not believe how boring it is when Dr. S is away," Elle says with a pout, slouching to sit in Mohinders chair across from Matt. She hands him coffee and beams when he thanks her, but she doesn't touch her own coffee that bears the smudges of her lipstick mostly because her mouth runs a mile a minute. "There is nothing to do, not even boring old paperwork!"

Matt smiles in sympathy, handing her the gossip section of the paper in what has become a practiced weekend ritual when Mohinder is away proving that the world really has gone completely weird. For awhile they just co-exist, with Matt squinting at the police log and Elle scouring the pictures and racy headlines.

The silence should have been a flashing warning sign because it is abruptly shattered as Elle pops some eye-wateringly fragrant watermelon gum into her mouth and says, "So... is Dr. S your boyfriend?"

Her blue eyes are watching him, interested and without a trace of guile. Matt doesn't know how to respond, so he opens and closes his mouth a couple times without saying anything before he occupies his flailing mouth with taking a long sip of his coffee.

Her stare doesn't waver which is more than a little bit creepy, so he settles on saying, "Well, um, that's a good question."

Elle doesn't seem to need him to speak or give an affirmative because she drops her chin into the cup of her hand, the very picture of thought, and muses, "I've never known anyone gay before, well confirmed gay because I meet a lot of people and sometimes you just can't tell. Dr. S? Knew right away, but you kind of threw me for a loop."

Matt is unsure if he should laugh, cry or run away, either way he's panicking. "Thank you?"

She waves this off and snaps her gum. "I thought Peter was for awhile, but he's such a good kisser. Have you ever kissed Peter? It would be a shame if was into boys."

Large mouthed bass have nothing on Matt Parkman, but she's still speaking. "There's been some gossip about Peter and his brother but that is just too weird. I mean, completely bad news bears territory even if their family is a little bit funny."

"Yeah, those Petrellis are a little bit... handsy," Matt offers and Elle nods in agreement, then just smiles at him brightly, again with her full attention. "I like you, you're funny."

At that moment her cell phone rings and Matt just shakes his head, trying to wade through the unreality of the previous conversation. Across the table Elle is fidgeting, biting her lip and slouching in on herself. That means its her father, so Matt goes back to the paper and the astounding list of bad deeds from the previous day.

"Hey."

Matt is so wrapped up, Elle's voice jerks him back to reality to see her standing by his side and forcing a smile for him. "Will you tell Molly we'll have to hang out tomorrow, I have to go do some stuff I forgot about."

She looks so young it takes him by surprise, even though she is young no matter her power and job with the Company, and she's clearly distressed so Matt doesn't pry .

"No problem," he says with an easy smile. "I'll let her know, no prob... and thanks again for the coffee."

"You're the best!" She hugs him and in the same beat is running out the door.

Matt has to shake his head again and laugh before being able to focus on the paper.

ooo

Elle's sad to leave when her father calls, but she knows better than to dilly-dally. They have a lead on Adam and electricity to the nervous system is the next best thing to the Haitian Sensation when it comes to retrieval. She's been itching to let out some energy with things being so bore-a-saurus, anyway.

It shouldn't take very long to bag and tag, she should make it back to pick Mohinder up at the airport Monday night. Monday night means spaghetti night and that Parkman makes a mean chicken cacciatore. Maybe, if she has time, she can pick up some new nail polish to bring to Molly for when Matt and Mohinder get boring and all touchy-feely with each other.

As Elle starts the engine of her car she's cheered up and ready for some fun.

End