The Visitor

Mohinder had no idea how it could have happened, when one day at work he found that his toast he had toasted some days ago with his very own toaster, was radiating nuclear emissions. He only knew one thing. It had to be his toaster that had done this and of course he immediately had a genius plan how to use this discovery to his advantage.

They would place some of the nuclear toast slices in front of the FBI headquarter wait for the security to get alarmed and investigate. They would assume it to be a terroristic attack and therefor they would concentrate all their manpower to that building. Their attention would be totally off the CIA headquarter and that would be his and Sylar´s chance to get in there and as soon as they had access to their computer system, they would easily take over the world.

"That sounds pretty complicated." was Sylar´s comment after Mohinder had told him his plan.

"It is. And that is the real genius behind it." Mohinder explained. "That´s something they´ll never expect. So we have the surprising element on our side."

Sylar only looked at him unsure but didn´t say anything. Mohinder of course noticed his companion´s reluctance but that didn´t lower his own excitement about his newest plan. He walked up to the door of his appartement and inserted the key.

"Don´t worry." he said. "It´ll work. We just pick up the toaster and then we head for the …"

But when he opened the door his voice died in his throat. Something was off here. Very off. This just didn´t look like his place. Not at all. Was he in the wrong appartement? But when he checked on the number, it was indeed the 613 and it was still his name under the bell. What the heck was going on here?

"You bought new furnitures?" Sylar asked when he saw it too.

"No." Mohinder cried, still in a state of utter disbelieving shock. "I did not. Last time I was here it looked …"

"When was the last time you were here?" Sylar asked.

Mohinder opened his mouth but then had to close it again. He counted the nights he had spent working at the Company respectively outside trying to take over the world. At the end he came up with three or four days tops since he´d been at home, sleeping in his own bed instead of a futon under the table of his lab. But that was no explanation for what had happened to his furnitures.

"Who had the keys again?" Sylar asked now, not less disturbed by what he saw.

"Why, Matt of course." Mohinder said, still musing over this strange anomaly in his appartement. But then he understood the meaning of this question and looked at Sylar baffled. "But … he has his own place." he stated. "Why should he …?"

"Ask him, not me."

Mohinder took out his cell phone, dialing the number furiously. If that guy had had the nerv to pull off something like that on him, he would be so up for a lecture now. He only got the voice mail but that would have to do.

"Matt, it´s me." he grumbled into the phone, clenching his jaw. "Would you please come over for a sec?"

With that he hung up.

In the meantime Sylar had started to inspect the new furnitures. There was a red sofa standing in the middle of the room. Pictures of flowers were hanging on the walls, mostly poppy. Pink curtains, and was that really … a floor lamp with a pard pattern? Sylar picked the lamp up, looking at it in utter disbelieve. Since when was Parkman into such stuff?

"That´s … disgusting." Mohinder commented the sight of the whole appartement.

"It is." Sylar agreed and turned to him, still holding this alien lamp. "I mean … what´s going on in a person … when he truly goes to the cash register … with something like this and says, I´d like to pay?"

"Honestly." Mohinder shook his head regarding this disaster he was confronted with. "That´s not to be explained with: I only had your best interest in mind."

"What is Parkman thinking?"

"I have no idea."

"Maybe he read the mind of a mentally ill criminal or something and got messed up." Sylar tried to find an explanation. But in this moment, the door was opened again and the two of them swirled around, to face … an Indian woman of about fifty.

"Mother?" Mohinder shrieked.

The older woman cheered up when she saw her son, spreading her arms wide and embraced the still thunderstruck Mohinder.

"I was so hoping to surprise you, son." she told him. "Your friend Matt gave me the key. Say. Isn´t that beautiful? Not as smudgy as that old stuff you had in here before."

Mohinder just stared at her, unable to say anything. She was still smiling widely at him.

Sylar cocked his head, when there was no reaction coming from the scientist.

"Mohinder?" he addressed him but got no reaction. At least not from him. She on the other hand turned to him and reached out her hand enthusiastically.

"And who are you, young man?" she asked.

"Ehm, Gabriel, hi." Sylar introduced himself. "I´m … kinda working with … Mohinder?" he addressed the scientist again, who was still staring at his mother cold-struck.

"Mother." he finally brought out. "What are you doing here? Who let you in? And why?"

"I came here to see you, Mohinder." Missus Suresh said. "Can´t a mother come and visit her son without having a reason?"

"No." Mohinder cried and looked around his appartement again. "What did you do? I mean … What happened in here?"

"I rearranged some things." she said.

"I see that." Mohinder replied still unable to deal with the situation. "But why? Where is my stuff? Where is my completely comfortable couch that perfectly fitted in here? Where is my totally appropriate kitchentable? Where … Where is my toaster?"

"Oh, I got you a much better appliance than a simple toaster." Mama Suresh told him. "Look at this. That´s a toaster oven. You can make your own bread buns with that if you want to."

"I don´t want to make my own bread buns, mother." Mohinder cried. "I´m a geneticist. Not a baker."

"Still you need to eat more healthy than you did so far. The way I know you, you are living from peanut butter sandwiches by now."

"Man, she got that right, didn´t she?" Sylar commented.

Mohinder immediately swirled around to him, glaring daggers at him. "Which side are you on?" he snarled and immediately faced his mother again. "Mother." he tried to ask her calmly. "Where is my stuff? All the furnitures that were in here before you came?"

"Gone."

"GONE WHERE !?"

The sudden shout, made Sylar flinch, but not the good old mother.

"What was the name of the man who took it?" Mohinder asked. "What´s the address? Where …?"

"Mohinder, you need to calm down." Sylar spoke up, slowly getting worried. Because Mama Suresh had taken on a face by now that spoke of real trouble if no one would step in. "Maybe we should just … sit down for a moment." he suggested and somehow managed it to direct the two Suresh´s to the kitchen table.

He placed himself between the two, just in case and for a moment they just sat there together, no one speaking a word. Sylar felt awkwardly misplaced.

"Welcome to the family therapy Suresh." he mumbled.

"Look, Mohinder." Mama Suresh spoke up at last. "I only had your best interest in mind."

Mohinder immediately had to bite the back of his hand to not to cry out his frustration.

"I just wanted to welcome you in a warm atmosphere, because I knew you would be working far too long again. Just the way your father always did. And I remember very well what it did to his health back then. Too less sleep, no real food … this is going to kill you one day, son."

"If your plans don´t do it first." Sylar added quietly and got a kick for it under the table. Mohinder was visibly biting his own tongue to not to say anything wrong now. Eventually he managed a forced smile.

"Mother …" he started but Mama Suresh was faster again.

"That´s why I decided to move in with you." she said. "To take care of you."

Mohinder´s smile immediately froze on his face. He was still smiling but with every second it looked more like a grimace.

"You … You wanna move in here?" he brought out. "What about your life in India?"

"My son is more important than that." Mama Suresh waved a hand through the air.

"Mother! Really! You don´t have to do that." Mohinder cried.

By now Sylar just couldn´t help himself anymore. He started to laugh. Mohinder immediately scowled at him darkly.

The doorbell saved Sylar from a discussion.

"That must be Matt." Mohinder realized and eagerly jumped up to let the traitor in.

"I … need to use the bathroom." Sylar hurried out of sight. It surely was not a good idea to be seen by a cop in this appartement when he was supposed to be locked in a cell.

At the front door Mohinder was clenching the doorknob to a point of deforming, glaring at a very startled looking Matt Parkman.

"Hey." the cop greeted. "What´s up? I uhm … I got your message."

"You." Mohinder breathed. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"Excuse me?"

"I gave you a second key to my place in case of an emergency." Mohinder went on without even realizing that Matt had spoken inbetween. "I trusted you. And what are you doing? You give the key away and let my mother in here. Are you out of your mind?"

"She´s your mother, for gods sake." Matt cried to defend himself.

"Exactly." was all Mohinder replied with a snarly smile. "Look around."

Matt did look around and a frown of pure confusion appeared on his forehead. "You got new furnitures?"

"Obviously." Mohinder said, dangerously quiet. There was something in his eyes that spoke of murder right now. "What is going on here, Matt?" he demanded to know. "Why is my mother in this very room with me? Why didn´t you call me the instant she came to you, claiming my keys?"

"Mohinder, I thought you´d be happy to see me." Mama Suresh chipped in.

"I am happy to see you, mother." Mohinder assured her. "Just not … here. And this …"

"He´s just overwhelmed by this new surroundings." an unexpected voice spoke up.

"Peter?" Mohinder asked when he saw the uninvited guest standing in his living room. But then `Peter´ gave him a face and he understood. "Oh, right, Peter." he hurried to pretend. "I forgot that … you wanted … to come over."

`Peter´ turned to Mama Suresh. "You may not take that personally." he said. "Mohinder reacts very strange to changes in his environment since he lives in America."

"Is that so?" Mama Suresh asked.

"Yes." Mohinder affirmed. "Please mother, tell me that you have the address of the man that has my furnitures."

Mama Suresh closed her eyes for a moment. "Your furnitures … are in the cellar." she said, giving up at last. "I stored them there in case you shouldn´t like my decoration."

Mohinder exhaled in relief at this news. But a second later he turned his attention back to this very unreliable police friend of his. Oh, he had to come up with a fitting punishment for this kind of dilettantism, Matt had allowed himself.

"Matt." he addressed the cop.

"Yes." Parkman reacted eagerly, obviously expecting the worst.

"You … You will take my mother home with you now, for the next three days." Mohinder said. "You go with him, mother. He´ll take good care of you, while Peter and I will bring my old furnitures back in here."

"Uhm, I don´t think so." Matt tried to argue.

"You will take her with you, Matt." Mohinder emphasized, glaring at Matt so intensely that the cop flinched and hurried to take Mama Suresh´s arm.

"You´ll like it at my place." he assured her. "It has a nice view at the wall of the next building."

"I see you in a few days, mother." Mohinder dismissed his mother. "We talk about everything later."

With that he closed the door behind the two of them and leaned against it in exhaustion. Sylar, who was now looking like Sylar again, stepped to his side.

"So what´s about the plan now?" he asked.

Mohinder seemed very tired by now. "Later." he said. "First we have to fix this problem here. We take over the world tomorrow night."