A Note From Lara: Woot! Update! Alright, I have a plot in mind for this, but it's really nebulous at the moment, so if you have any suggestions or plot ideas, feel free to let me know in your review. Also, now that I'm past the prologue (which I almost always write in third-person anyway), I have switched to first-person narration, as I think it'll really help me develop Molly's character more richly.
A Bus on the way to New Orleans
I had intended to go to Hiro. No matter what else happened, I knew that Hiro would always be there to help me. But when I looked for him, all I found was static. That could only mean one thing- Hiro Nakamura was dead. He wasn't time-traveling. I always could find him even when he was in a different time. This was different. He wasn't anywhere or anywhen.
The ability to GPS through time had been very confusing when it first presented itself. My power had undergone a lot of changes in the last few years, but that was one of the strangest. I had to look carefully to narrow down the time frame I was searching in, or my brain totally overloaded and I passed out.
Whatever. Not really important. What was important was that instead, I had come to New Orleans to find the only other person I knew would help me without any reserve: Micah. Or, as he called himself lately, Rebel.
I flipped open my laptop and logged onto MSN.
IKnowWhereULive: Yo, Micah! U on?
Rebel: Always, babe. Are you okay?
IKnowWhereULive: One, don't call me babe. Two, not really.
Rebel: Whats up?
I glanced at the infant in the little bassinet on the seat next to me. Oh boy. Micah really had no idea what was about to land on his doorstep.
IKnowWhereULive: U remember what I told u about Matt?
Rebel: Yeah. You said he took your mom's death really hard.
IKnowWhereULive: Mic! She wasn't my mom. U know that.
Rebel: Okay, assuming your crazy the-last-four-years-of-your-life-are-all-a-brain-whammy-cooked-up-by-your-dad-to-make-us-all-think-Daphne's-his-wife theory is correct, what does that have to do with it?
IKnowWhereULive: He's really messed up, Micah. He's got issues. Not safe for Dani anymore.
Rebel: There's an "and" isn't there?
IKnowWhereULive: =)
Rebel: I hate "ands." They're almost as bad as "buts." *sigh* What is it this time, Moll?
IKnowWhereULive: I can't stay with Matt anymore. Well, I can, but Daniella really can't. I can't be there 24/7, and until he gets his shit together, it's not safe for him to take care of her.
Rebel: Please don't say what I think you're gonna say...
IKnowWhereULive: Can we crash at ur place?
IKnowWhereULive: Just for a couple of weeks? Only until I figure out something better.
Rebel: I guess.
IKnowWhereULive: So enthusiastic...
Rebel: Bite me. You're the one dropping in on my lair with basically no advance warning.
IKnowWhereULive: ??
Rebel: Oh, don't be so innocent, Moll. You're probably practically on my doorstep right now, aren't you?
IKnowWhereULive: Actually, no. I'm on a bus about two hours from the Big Easy as we speak.
IKnowWhereULive: But that wasn't what I was talking about. Ur "lair"? WTF, man?
Rebel: Hey! If I wanna call it a lair I will!
IKnowWhereULive: Yeah, well, if u haven't cleaned it in the last couple of days it's actually probably closer to a lair than anything else.
Rebel: :(
IKnowWhereULive: Hey, I only call it as I see it.
IKnowWhereULive: *astral projects to ur room*
IKnowWhereULive: OMG GROSS!!!!
Rebel: ...?? You can do that?
IKnowWhereULive: Sadly? Yeah. My power's gone really mega-expansion-pack recently.
Rebel: Maybe they put something in the water...
IKnowWhereULive: "They" wouldn't do that. U would, though. More pwps = good for us, yeah?
Rebel: More champions for the cause is always good, Molly.
IKnowWhereULive: Yeah, well, looks like ur previous "champion" sorta went down in flames, huh.
IKnowWhereULive: Micah! U gonna respond.
Rebel: Peter was like the awesome older brother I never had, Molly. That's not funny.
IKnowWhereULive: It wasn't supposed to be. Listen, I know something about Dani that u really need to hear. It might help.
Rebel: What is it?
IKnowWhereULive: I don't really wanna say it over the internet. Not secure enough.
Rebel: I can secure the connection
IKnowWhereULive: Yeah, but there'd still be a ghost record of the convo.
Rebel: You have learned well, little Grasshopper
IKnowWhereULive: =P
Rebel: Alright, fine. Good point. I could probably erase that too, but if you'd really rather keep it low-profile...
IKnowWhereULive: Yah, I do. Tell u when I get there, k?
Rebel: Okay. See you in a couple hours.
I closed the laptop and leaned back against the windowpane, staring at the lush southern countryside as it streaked past beside the window. Then I glanced down at Daniella. "What a messed-up world we live in, huh sweetie?" I said rhetorically. The little brown-eyed baby gurgled and grinned up at me, and I couldn't help but smile. Dani was the most adorable baby I'd ever seen, and I couldn't believe that I was practically her big sister.
Suddenly it crashed over me, everything that I'd done in the last twenty-four hours. I had taken Daniella away from the closest thing to a father she had now, the only parent left to her. With Mom (no, Daphne, I reminded myself) gone, and Peter presumably dead as well, the only people in the world who truly cared about her were Matt and me. Had I been right to take her away? I had no idea. And I had no idea how I was going to manage the time ahead.
I mean, for god's sake! I was only fourteen? What the hell was I thinking, trying to raise a little girl all on my own in a world that wanted my kind dead? And the people I was turning to for help weren't any better.
With Peter Petrelli and Hiro Nakamura dead or missing or whatever, "Rebel" had been promoted to the second slot in the America's Most Wanted Top Ten list. The only person they would want to find more badly than Micah was Noah Bennet, and he hadn't been heard from since Nathan Petrelli was killed.
The weight of the world suddenly seemed to settle on my shoulders. It was a weight that I was determined to keep from Dani for as long as I possibly could: she, at least, deserved the quiet childhood I'd never gotten.
Was this how Peter had felt? How all those fighters who had stood up to try and stop the advent of the Formula had felt? Only it must have been so much worse for them, because they were trying to shelter everyone, not just one baby girl. Overwhelmed by the unknown waiting for me out there, I laid my head against the window again and cried.
A few hours later, I awoke to the pneumatic hiss of the bus and discovered that I'd slept the rest of the way to New Orleans. I dragged my suitcase down from the overhead compartment, picked up Daniella in her carrier, and walked down the steps and into the bright morning sunshine of my new life...
Don't expect many updates on this, because I REALLY need to get WTRL and Exodus wrapped up ASAP. And also Rebel's Angels and SOS and TSATS and Jealousy and Stuck (very funny, btw)... Yeah, I've got lots of works-in-progress. *is a BAD fanfic-er* I'll deal with that, I promise! And then this will get updated more often.