Fiction: The Final Step

[kethni]

Name: The Final Step

Pairing: Matt/Mo

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Extreme saccharine schmoopiness, sexual scenes

Word Count: Approx 8330

Authors Note: Final "Baby Steps" story. Goodness this has been a long time coming. Got there in the end though. Thanks to everyone for bearing with me for sooo long. Huge thanks and grateful kisses as always to boudecia7 for support and beta editing. Any remaining mistakes are my own damn fault.




The house looks like it stood up, had a good shake, and then fell down. There are t-shirts, trousers, pants, socks, and various assorted clothes strewn over the chairs, coffee table, slung over the doors, and even hanging over the TV.

‘Have we been robbed?’ Molly demands.

‘The camcorder is still there,’ I point out, gesturing at the slightly battered camcorder sitting atop a small pile of tapes and other accessories between a towering pile of shoes and a wobbling wedge of books.

‘Huh, good job that Mohinder didn’t start packing without us then,’ Molly says, putting her hands on her hips.

‘Hello! You’re back! I’ll put the kettle on. Careful where you sit. Did you both have a good day?’ Mohinder flings his arms around my shoulders and gives me a big kiss. ‘Mmm!’

‘You start packing without us?’ I ask.

‘Ahh well if you were going to pack I’d have to tell you what the weather was going to be like!’

‘I wouldn’t mind that.’

‘That would spoil all the fun,’ he says.

‘Knowing where we’re going would be fun,’ Molly says sweetly.

‘Not for me. No. Surprise. Surprise is good!’ He kisses me on the lips. ‘You’ll love it.’

‘Okay.’

‘If you tell me I won’t tell Dad,’ Molly wheedles.

‘No, no, no,’ he laughs.



By the time we finally reach the airport the day after Molly is about ready to explode. We get each other surprise gifts pretty regularly but Molly’s used to being confided in. She’s ticked off not to be in the know for once.

‘He’s probably taking us to Alaska!’ she wails. ‘We should’ve gone with him to the luggage drop off.’

‘Well then we’ll have fun in Alaska.’

She gives me a teenager kind of a look. ‘I’m not going to Alaska.’

It’s not often I get to be the one teasing. ‘You’ll like Alaska. We’ll get you a nice furry coat and some earmuffs.’

‘Dad! You know that Mohinder’s surprises always end up with you biting your lip so you don’t say something rude.’

‘That’s not fair and you know it!’ Some people figure that if you’re with someone then you’ve gotta think the way they do. But Mohinder kind of lies crossways to me in a lot of stuff and where we touch we come at things from completely different angles. I don’t care what other people figure. It works for us. I wouldn’t have Mohinder any other way than he is.’

‘What if he’s taking us somewhere awful?’ she asks, folding her arms.

‘He won’t be.’

‘But what if he is?’

‘Then he meant well and there’s been a mix up so we will both smile and make the best of things!’

An arm slides into mine and Mohinder kisses my cheek. ‘You don’t have to pretend for me,’ he says.

I hug him close and kiss his forehead. ‘That wasn’t what I said. So are we all set?’

‘Absolutely! I hope you’re both excited. It’s going to be a long flight but it’s a direct one and we’re going first class so it should be comfortable and you can even lie down and have a sleep. That’ll be nice won’t it Molly? Even if you hate the whole holiday you should at least enjoy the flight there and back.’

Molly goes bright red and drops her eyes. She bitches a lot but she’s a good kid and she loves Mohinder, although sometimes she talks about him more like a puppy than her dad’s boyfriend.

‘I won’t hate it,’ she mutters, and takes his arm.

‘You didn’t have to get first class,’ I protest. ‘That must’ve cost a fortune.’

Mohinder bats his eyes. ‘It’s a present, Matt. I’m hardly going to scrimp and save on it. It’s such a long way.’

‘How long a way is it, Mohinder?’ Molly asks sweetly.

He’s wise to her though and grins at her happily. ‘Oh a long way! Thousands and thousands of miles!’

She kicks him in the shin which at least is a change from elbowing him in the stomach. Teenage girls aren’t quite as bad as teenage boys when it comes to showing affection, but Molly’s still more likely to dole out a sharp elbow than a cuddle.

‘You can’t blindfold us on the plane you know. We’re going to find out where we’re going,’ she threatens.

He grins like the Cheshire Cat. ‘That’s only part of my surprise.’



We get through security without too much fuss. Molly takes offense at Mohinder being given an extra once over but I have a few words and they back off before things get silly. Mohinder’s perfectly capable of defending Molly or me but he’s not so great at standing up for himself. It’s crazy thinking that someone like Mohinder could be any kind of danger to anyone except maybe to himself.

Soon as we get through security and started heading for the gates Molly bolts for the displays to see what’s listed. I know we’re not going anywhere in the Middle East, unless Mohinder’s brought us to completely the wrong terminal, but it’s somewhere several thousand miles away. I guess it’s kind of mean trying to work out where we might be going but it’s so damn tempting. I kind of hope it’s not somewhere that we’re going to have to have separate rooms and not be able to hold hands in the street. I know one of the reason’s Mohinder was happy to leave India was that there was still a lot of issues around being gay, even though it’s been legal for a couple of years or so. I can’t even imagine what it must be like trying to live somewhere that showing affection, that feeling affection, can get you dragged away from your home and thrown into prison.

‘Are you excited?’ Mohinder asks, squeezing my hand tightly.

‘I am! I’m excited because you’re excited.’

‘It’ll be worth it. I know it’ll be worth it. I’m sure it will be and that you’ll love. I’m sure you’ll have a great time and Molly too of course. I really appreciate you letting me surprise you this way because it means a lot to me.’

I squeeze his hand again and his earnest expression melts a little with a smile. ‘You don’t have to be grateful sweetheart; you’re taking us on vacation! I’m sure we’ll have a fantastic time.’

Molly stomps back and throws her arms across her chest. ‘Are we going to Europe?’

‘Europe is a continent, Molly, not a country,’ Mohinder says helpfully. ‘There are only seven so the odds of us going to Europe are one in seven. Although I suppose since we’re in North America it’s really only one in six. So guessing a continent isn’t necessarily terribly helpful.’

Molly looks at me. ‘We’re going to Europe aren’t we?’

‘I’d guess so.’

Mohinder waves his hands. ‘That doesn’t prove anything! And if it did it wouldn’t matter because there are dozens of countries in Europe and we could be going to any of them or even all of them.’ He points at Molly. ‘Stop guessing!’

‘Well we’re going to know as soon as we go the gate!’

‘Damn it, Molly, let Mohinder have his surprise. Quit trying to spoil it.’

‘Well I don’t like surprises,’ she mutters rebelliously.

Mohinder pushes his fingers through his curls. ‘We aren’t going to the gate until we’re called and that’s not going to be for another half an hour.’

‘Let’s go get a coffee,’ I suggest. ‘And you can’t have any cake young lady, for trying to guess Mohinder’s surprise.’

She rolls her eyes but takes my arm as we walk off towards the coffee shop. ‘I don’t want any cake.’

‘Or chocolate,’ Mohinder chimes in, bright-eyed.

‘You can’t ban me from chocolate, that’d be inhumane!’ she squawks. ‘Dad!’

‘Hey, we finally found a punishment that works!’

Mohinder giggles and ruffles her hair. ‘It might be rather mean but certainly not inhumane. What would probably be inhumane would be the effect on your father and I if you didn’t have chocolate during your time of the month. Even with chocolate it sometimes seems like the sack of Rome so I would dread to think what things would be like without it and…’

‘I don’t think we’re allowed to talk about this stuff!’ I hiss.

‘No, you’re not,’ she says, elbowing him in the ribs.

‘Ouch, why not?’

Molly throws her hands up. ‘Because you’re guys! I wouldn’t try telling you how… how cranky you get when haven’t had sex!’

I expect that kind of thing from Mohinder because, well, he’s very open about sex. Molly’s generally horrified at the mention of sex, at least in front of me. I know she’s asked Mohinder stuff but I try my best not to know anything about that. It’s all well and good having a healthy openness about sex, but that shouldn’t extend to teenagers and their parents. That’s twelve different kinds of wrong.

‘I wouldn’t have thought the opportunity would have arisen for you to see us that sexually frustrated. We have a very active…’

‘It was an example!’ Molly wails.

‘Okay, enough,’ I say quickly. ‘Molly, please lower your voice. You’re too old to be throwing a temper tantrum never mind doing it in public.’

She blows out her cheeks and hands her head. ‘Sorry, Dad.’

‘Mohinder, honey, I appreciate that openness and honesty is important but Molly doesn’t want or need to hear about our sex life. Not even vaguely. It’s a thing, trust me.’

Mohinder catches my fingers with his. ‘Oh. I just thought that… I apologise for embarrassing you both.’

‘Molls, why don’t you grab some seats in the coffee shop while Mohinder and I get the coffees.’

‘Can I have some hot chocolate?’ she asks, making a moue.

‘I’ll see, now shoo!’



‘Am I a terrible stepfather?’ Mohinder worries his lip as we wait for our drinks.

‘No, you’re a fantastic stepdad. Molly adores you.’ I pinch his butt and he squeaks, which makes one of the waitresses grin. ‘And I’m pretty fond of you myself.’

‘It’s such a difficult age. I worry that I’ll make a terrible mistake.’

‘We’re going to make mistakes, honey, tons of them. All parents do. All of them. But most of us live through it just fine you know. Molls will be just fine, better than if you weren’t in her life. And I’m sure that she’ll be a lot happier than if she didn’t have you. I know I am.’

Mohinder’s too dark for a blush to really show but he ducks his head despite the smile that spreads across his face. ‘I wasn’t trying to fish for a compliment.’

‘You can have some anyway.’



Molly claps her hands and then suddenly regrets her glee and pretends that she’s not thrilled we’re finally heading to the gate. Instead she tries to act ‘cool’ and as if she doesn’t care one way or the other. Teenagers.

‘I hope we’ll have enough room for our luggage do you think it’s likely to be a problem? I can’t believe sometimes the size of the bags that people will insist on carrying with them when they’re practically full size suitcases and all because they simply don’t want to wait for their luggage at the destination!’

‘Sweetheart, if you’ve got first class tickets then I’m sure they’ll make sure we have room for our bags.’

‘I wouldn’t want to fly all that way without my novels and I’m sure we couldn’t go ten hours with the bags under the chairs because then we wouldn’t be able to stretch out our legs!’ Mohinder nibbles his lower lip with his teeth.

‘Aha! The flight is ten hours long!’ Molly says triumphantly.

‘Smart ass, if you turn around you’ll be able to see where we’re going.’

She turns around and squints at the board. ‘Manchester. Where’s Manchester?’

‘We’re going to England?’ It’s a bit of relief to be honest; I was kind of worried we’d end up in the middle of the rainforest or crossing the Sahara on camels. I’m not real adventurous; I’ll be the first to admit it.

‘Maybe,’ Mohinder says airily. ‘Okay, yes, we’re going to Manchester for most of the time although we’ll be spending the last four days in London and flying back from there. You’ll both like it!’

‘Are we going to stay in a castle?’ Molly asks.

‘I think the only castles you can stay at in London are pubs,’ Mohinder giggles.

‘I don’t think the Queen rents out rooms,’ I suggest.

She gives me a teenager kind of look. ‘She lives in a palace, not a castle.’

‘There are lots of castles we can visit. Nine in Manchester alone which is one reason that it’s a good base for us and we can visit Lancashire, Cheshire… ooh Chester has so many educational sites and of course it’s only a few hours on the train to Wales and then down to London although of course we’ll be flying.’

‘It sounds great.’ It sounds cultural, which is good. It’ll be good for Molly and Mohinder will enjoy himself. So much money though. I don’t know why it’d bother me more if it was three weeks in some sun spot but I think it would. I can’t blame Mohinder for not wanting to spend ten hours flying coach and I guess he couldn’t really fly first class and leave us in the back, but still.

‘Do you think so?’ he asks, catching my fingers. ‘I want us all to have fun and I know that it’s a long way but I really think that it’s going to be a lot of fun.’

I take his hand between mine and kiss his cheek. ‘I think it’s going to be fantastic. Thank you so much for arranging all this. Molly and I really appreciate it so much.’

‘Thanks Mohinder,’ Molly says, kicking his ankle gently with her foot. Teenagers.



Poor Mohinder’s not designed for spending so much time in one space, even one as comfy as this. He’s too excitable for the grumpy business type scowling over from his seat but hell Mohinder’s paid for his seat. He can be excitable if he wants. He calms down after a while and lays his head on my shoulder as we watch some lame romantic comedy. They’re all the same these things, give or take, and you try finding one with a gay couple as the leads.

‘I suppose there’s “Beautiful Thing”, but that’s not really a comedy,’ Mohinder says when I bitch about it to him. ‘You’re quite correct however that there is certainly a shortage of romantic comedies written with gay men and lesbians in mind. I like romantic comedies. I’m a sucker for romance as you know.’

‘I don’t think I know that one.’

‘It’s a British film, two teenage boys fall in love on a housing estate in London, a little like the projects you have in the US. It’s rather gritty but it ends happily.’ He waggles his eyebrows. ‘Like us!’

I laugh at that. ‘We’re not gritty. You’re an academic! You’ve never been near the projects or anything like.’

‘You don’t know everything about me, Matthew Parkman,’ he says, sticking his tongue out at me. ‘I wasn’t born in academia.’

‘Yeah you were. You were born holding a pen and a dictionary. I bet you were giving lectures when you were in diapers.’ I kiss his ear and he flaps a hand against my chest.

‘You’re always teasing me,’ he laughs.

‘You’re so much fun to tease.’



We wake up as daylight comes through the windows, or the portholes, or whatever they call them on airplanes. Molly is still dozing so going for another walk probably isn’t going to fly. At least until she wakes up. She’s always grouchy as hell when she wakes up so that’s something to look forward to.

‘Do you want to join the mile high club?’ Mohinder whispers, soft lips pressed to my ear.

‘I’d love to but there’s barely enough room in there to turn around let alone anything else.’

Mohinder grins wickedly and pulls the blankets over us before slipping his hand underneath.

‘Oh no…’

‘Nobody is looking.’

‘That’s not the point!’

Mohinder’s hand strokes my thigh. ‘What’s the point?’

A passenger across the aisle snuffles and turns over in his seat. ‘The point is we’re surrounded by people.’

‘I know, it’s sexy,’ he says, waggling his eyebrows.

Oh crap. He’s pretty much never expressed any kind of kink before but he’s always been real indulgent of mine.

‘I’m too loud,’ I say honestly. ‘But if you can keep quiet…’

Mohinder’s eyes widen. ‘Really?’

I keep one hand on top of the blankets and work the other one over to his groin. He grins at me and then lifts the blanket up over his head like a kid.



Molly’s face is red and creased from where she has pressed her cheek against the side of her headrest. She’s always like that; I think she tries to burrow right through the mattress at home.

‘Were Mifiper?’

‘Again and in English?

She scowls and stretches in the seat. ‘Where’s Mohinder?’

‘In the toilet.’

‘He didn’t wake me up,’ she complains.

‘Crashing the plane wouldn’t wake you up.’

She rolls her eyes and flaps a hand at me. ‘You shouldn’t make jokes like that while we’re on a plane!’

‘What you believe in fate now or something?’

Molly pulls herself up and drags her hair back into a ponytail. ‘If this was a movie then saying that would mean we would crash.’

‘Sure, and if this was a movie you’d be played by someone ten years older and wearing five pounds of makeup. I’d be played by George Clooney and Mohinder would be Malcolm. Thank goodness this isn’t a movie!’

‘Are we nearly there?’

‘We’ve got about forty minutes to go I figure.’

She yawns and looks around. ‘Are they going to feed us again soon?’

‘You only just woke up.’

‘And I’m hungry,’ she says, slapping her hands down on the arm rest. ‘Ooh look, they’re messing around with the trollies. We’re going to get some breakfast.’

I hope Mohinder manages to slip out of the toilet before they begin doling out the tiny portions of food. For being stick thin Mohinder loves his food.

The bathroom door rattles like Mohinder’s trying to open it the wrong way and then he slides out with a shimmy and scoots over to us.

‘They’re bringing food over. Hello Molly did you have a good sleep? Can I get past please?’

‘You got past okay when I was sleeping,’ she grumbles, making room for him to pass.

‘You weren’t sprawled all over the place like a concussed octopus when you were asleep,’ he says, climbing around her and dropping down into the chair next to me.

‘I don’t do that!’

‘Yeah you do.’



England is cold! The breeze coming through as we deplane and head towards customs is bitter. Molly squeals and huddles inside her jacket while Mohinder cranes his neck.

‘How long’s it been since you were back in the old country?’

He laughs and nudges me with his elbow. ‘It’s not Transylvania! And it’s been a while. Quite a while. I miss it sometimes. The rain and the food and the little shops and the Gay Village. I was here when the IRA bombed the Arndale well not here not in the airport but I was living in Manchester and they did a lovely job of clearing up after the blast and regenerating the area.’

‘You nearly got blown up?’ Molly squeaks.

‘Oh no, nobody was killed in that bombing although there were plenty of other bombings over the years and more than a few deaths.’

‘How do you live like that, with bombings?’ I got a real healthy regard for my own safety. You wouldn’t get me bungee jumping or climbing a mountain or anything like that. ‘Weren’t you nervous as hell all the time?’

We’re getting near to passport control where Molly and me will have to queue up separately from Mohinder.

‘You get used to being vigilant and watching out for suspicious packages and the like.’

‘I couldn’t do it,’ I say honestly and he laughs.

‘You’re a policeman Matt! You risk your life every time that you go out of the station and you live in Los Angeles, a city notorious for numerous earthquakes. The fact that the vast majority of them are of low intensity doesn’t alter the fact that any time a major earthquake could strike. But you and everyone else internalise the danger and find ways to cope with it without thinking about it more than you absolutely have to.’ He kisses me on the cheek. ‘Now you and Molly better queue up with rest of the invading foreigners while I cruise along with the rest of the EU nationals.’



I’d pay good money for a shower but of course I can only really splash water into my face and freshen up some. I’m hoping Mohinder doesn’t have anything much planned for today. I don’t think I’m up for much beyond throwing myself into bed and sleeping until dawn, whenever that is here. Thing is I’m not sure he hasn’t planned something. He’s certainly jigging about from foot to foot like some kid on Christmas morning.

‘It was a good idea you had bringing a change of clothes in the hand luggage,’ he says, scowling as he tries to slick down a wild curl.

‘More than ten hours travelling in the same clothes makes me pretty damn unpleasant to be around.’

Mohinder slides his arms around my waist and squeezes gently. ‘I don’t care if you’ve been in the same clothes a week, I love being around you.’ He kisses my cheek. ‘I love you so much.’

I turn around to kiss him. ‘You’re in a soppy mood.’

‘Sorry.’

‘No, I like it. I hope the hotel has a nice big bed.’

He laughs and ducks out of the embrace. ‘Molly will be wondering where we’ve gone.’

‘We’ve got a hotel haven’t we?’

Mohinder looks back at me. ‘We have a hotel,’ he promises. He skips out into the corridor and flips Molly’s ponytail over her shoulder.

‘You look tired.’

‘Duh, I just woke up and hour ago,’ she says as we finally head out towards the exit.

‘Do you think you could look a bit less tired?’ he suggests.

Molly looks at me. ‘What’s going on?’

‘I don’t know. I’m getting suspicious though.’

Mohinder fusses with his hair and flaps us forward. ‘Come on, we can’t stay here all day.’

‘I just spent ten hours on a plane, don’t stress me out!’ Molly snaps.

‘We’re all tired,’ he protests.

‘Let’s just get a cab and get home, okay?’ I say, before we end up with a full blown spat.

Mohinder looks at the crowds of people clustered by the exit. Some are holding signs but most are just bouncing up on their toes and scans the faces of people emerging from the play.

‘No need,’ Mohinder says too brightly. ‘Over here.’

Over here, are an Indian couple. They both look to be late sixties or early seventies but the sprightly, healthy type who probably go on walks or garden or something like that. She’s smallish, comes up to my forearm maybe, and he’s a couple of inches shorter than Mohinder. She’s in one of those saris, all rich blue fabric and reddish gold thread, and lots of gold jewellery but he’s in a real long cream coloured coat. It comes right down to his calf, that coat, and has silver embroidery. Molly’s staring greedily at the sari, well I guess it’s better than her coveting a tiny skirt and plunging top.

Parents. Crap. You don’t spring meeting someone’s parents on them! It’s a huge deal. And I know Mohinder and his parents were on the outs for years. As far as I knew they were still hardly talking to each other.

‘Hello Mother, hello Father,’ Mohinder says, stiffly. He shakes his dad’s hand and gives his mom a peck on the cheek. ‘This is my partner, Matt, and his daughter, Molly. Matt, this is my father, Chandra, and my mother, Nikhita.’

I’m going to kill him. And then Molly’s going to kill him.

‘Hello,’ his mom says, twitching a smile. ‘You are looking thin, Mohinder. I hope that you are eating properly.’

‘Yes I…’

‘We should go,’ his dad says shortly. ‘The car park ticket won’t last forever.’


Chandra and Nikhita go striding ahead towards the car way too fast for anyone who just spent ten hours on a plane.

‘You said we were going to a hotel!’ Molly hisses.

‘We are,’ Mohinder says quickly. ‘They’re just giving us a lift. A ride.’ He licks his lips. ‘Okay?’

Molly grabs my hand with hers and drops her head, too angry to meet his gaze.

There’s a beep as the door are unlocked on the car. It’s tiny. Like, a toy or something.



‘Do you intend to continue your education?’ Chandra asks, looking at Molly in the rear view mirror.

She blinks a couple of times. ‘Um, yeah, I want to go to college. I don’t know where I wanna go though.’

‘What subjects do you favour?’ Nikhita asks.

‘History,’ she says, surprising me. ‘Mohinder said that we can look at all these castles and stuff while we’re here. We don’t have any in America and I’m crazy mad to see some.’

Chandra nods. ‘Each country has its history. Britain has an abundance of castles, stately homes, and other ancient buildings.’

‘Do you have a favoured period?’ Nikhita asks.

Molly leans forward in her seat. ‘Late fifteen hundreds and early sixteen hundreds. Did you know that there were Elizabethan settlers in America way back then?’



The roads are so narrow I don’t know how drivers don’t get claustrophobia just driving around. Even driving up to the hotel it seems like we’re going to bounce off one of the walls. Chandra parks up in front of the hotel and gets out of the car.

‘Are you guys staying here too?’ Molly asks suspicious.

‘No, he’s just opening the boot so we can get the bags out,’ Mohinder says quickly. ‘It’s nice here, don’t you think? It’s a very nice hotel. It had very good reviews.’

I get out and help Chandra take the bags out of the trunk. The guy didn’t talk to Mohinder for five years and, pissed as I am at Mohinder, I’m in no mind at all to forget the pain they put him through.

‘Thanks for the ride.’

‘It’s been a long time since we saw Mohinder,’ Chandra says putting Molly’s pink suitcase neatly on the step.

‘Wasn’t anything to do with me,’ I say.

Chandra’s got his hands clenched together. ‘I am aware of that.’

Molly half falls out of the car and clops over to me. ‘Can I have room service? You guys have room service right?’

‘You ate on the plane!’

‘This is a Hilton,’ Chandra says to Molly. ‘They have room service although I would avoid use of the mini-bar. It is horrifically expensive.’

Mohinder is leaning through the car window to kiss his mom on the cheek. Then he shuffles over to me and shoves his hand out to Chandra.

‘Thank you for the lift, Father.’

‘Mohinder.’ Chandra shakes his hand for what looks like the shortest time possible. He walks back to the car and opens the door. ‘We’ll see you all tomorrow. Nine o’clock sharp.’

I hear Molly take a deep breath and when I look she’s gone red in the face. I wonder if I’m as red as she is. I’m too tired to get into anything right now and far too tired to deal with her throwing a fit. I half drag her into the hotel and over to the desk while I hear Mohinder trundling along behind us.

‘Hey, I think it’s probably in the name of Suresh? That’s him. Hi.’

‘Matthew, are you angry are me?’

‘Not, now, okay.’

I can’t look at him because I know he’ll be all deflated and then I’ll feel like crap. Molly’s made of sterner stuff but we can’t both go yelling at him. Nobody deserves that, especially when he was probably meaning well.



Molly keeps her peace until the valet vanishes and we’re left in the suite.

‘I don’t want to spend the whole day with your mom and dad!’ she says, throwing her bag down.

‘We won’t be spending the entire day with-’

‘Hey, don’t be so damn rude, Molls, Mohinder hasn’t seen his parents in a few years and it’s only natural he’d want to spend some time with them.’

‘It’s my vacation too,’ she says, scowling. ‘I don’t want to spend it with people I don’t know.’

‘They probably don’t want to spend the day with you either, smart ass, now go to your room and throw your clothes all over the floor. Make yourself at home,’ I say.

Molly grabs her bag. ‘Okay, geez. Keep your pants on, Dad.’ She slams her door behind her and a lamp wobbles.

‘I’m unclear why the presence of my parents has caused so much distress,’ Mohinder says, hands twitching together.

I collapse onto the bed and toe off my shoes. ‘Mohinder, meeting your parents for the first time is a huge deal. Meeting anyone’s parents for the first time is a really big thing. It’s not something to launch of someone unawares. Especially not when you’ve had such a bad time with them and definitely not when I’ve just spent fifteen hours travelling!’

He sits by me on the bed. ‘You don’t have to deal with them. They just gave us a lift.’

‘And when your dad said that he’d see us all tomorrow?’

Mohinder looks away guiltily. ‘That’s my other surprise.’

‘Another one? Because the one where we met your parents didn’t quite hit the right buttons.’

His face crumples. Crap, I can’t deal with that.

‘It’s… I…Oh dear…’

‘Hey come on, it’s okay.’ I take his hand and he grips my hand tightly. ‘I’m sorry. I’m tired. And grouchy. Molly… Molly’s a teenager. She’s secretly kind of annoyed that she has to spend time with her parents, which would be us, let alone anyone else’s parents.’

Mohinder rubs his eyes with his palm. ‘I wanted you to meet my parents before tomorrow.’

‘What’s happening tomorrow?’

‘Hang on.’ He stands up and straightens his clothes. ‘I love you.’

‘I love you too, sweetheart.’

He flaps a hand. ‘I have it written down. I have what I want to say written down. Because I want to say it and it’s very important.’

‘Okay.’ I have butterflies. Honest to goodness butterflies flapping around.

Mohinder fishes a piece of paper out of his pocket and unfolds it. He clears his throat. ‘Matthew, when I wake up in the morning the first thing I do is reach for you in bed next to me. The last thing I do at night is look at you sleeping next to me. You and Molly are my family.’ He takes a deep breath and smiles at me. ‘I love you, Matt. I love everything about you, from the way your hair sticks up wildly in the morning right down to your crooked little toes. When I met you the world got brighter. When I think of living without you it just... it feels so wrong, and painful, and alien.’ He licks his lips and tucks the paper back in his pocket. ‘I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life listening to you snoring and watching you blush cutely.’ He goes down on one knee. ‘Matthew Parkman, will you marry me?’

‘Yes, absolutely yes.’ I have to wipe my eyes. Something in them. You know how it is.

‘Tomorrow, um.’

‘What?’

He quirks a nervous smile. ‘Will you marry me tomorrow?’

‘Tomorrow! We… we can’t… you can’t arrange a wedding overnight.’

‘No, of course not, it took weeks and that included my mum doing some of the stuff locally as well as the agent that I hired.’ He licks his lips. ‘Can I stand up? My knee is getting a little sore.’

I grab him up off the floor and kiss him. ‘This is why we’re seeing your parents tomorrow.’

‘Is it alright?’

‘You’re pretty confident arranging it for tomorrow!’

He laughs and squeezes me so tightly I think he might crack a rib. ‘If I give you time to think about it you might change your mind. Or make me sign a pre-nup!’

‘Oh I love you.’

His eyes crinkle as he smiles. ‘So will you marry me tomorrow?’

‘In a heartbeat. I’m not sure what I’m going to say to my mom about getting married without her being here. I’ll have to take her a big wedge of cake. We’re having cake, right?’

‘It has three tiers; one is Victoria sponge, one is fruit cake, and the largest tier is chocolate!’ he says, eyes sparkling. ‘And your mum is here. She and your Aunty Mary have been here a week. I couldn’t very well bring her all the way and then send her back straight away but she thought it was best not to stay long after the wedding as we’ll be wanting to get on with the honeymoon stuff.’ He winks lasciviously.

‘Whoa, my mom is here?’

Mohinder bumps my shoulder with his. ‘You’re her only son. Of course I wouldn’t whisk you here for a fairytale wedding and then leave your loved ones at home! Your mum and aunty are down the hall and down the other way are Jack and Bill. They’re your oldest friends aren’t they? Isn’t that what you’ve always said?’

‘This must’ve cost you a fortune.’ I could send Molly to school for the money he must’ve spent. I feel a little faint.

‘It’s our wedding,’ he says. ‘Until and unless the law changes in the US it’s going to be the only wedding we have.’ He squeezes my hand. ‘And it’s our money, right? Because we’re a team and tomorrow we’ll be sharing everything.’



Molly squeals so loud I think they can probably hear it in the next suite.

‘I want a new dress!’

‘There’s not really time,’ I say.

‘Dad, you’re getting married. Take me to a store. I’m getting a new dress!’

‘And shoes, and maybe get your hair done?’ Mohinder suggests. ‘I’ll call the concierge. They’ll be able to arrange everything. It’s what they’re paid for, after all.’

‘Guys, isn’t it rather late to be going shopping?’

‘Dad, duh, reset your clock. It’s eleven in the morning. We have tons of time.’

‘It feels like three a.m.’

Mohinder pulls my face down and kisses my forehead. He’s only started doing it recently and although I’m not crazy on the forehead thing I go a little crazy for his taking my face in his hands. ‘Why don’t you have a nap while we’re out?’

‘Great, first day in a new country and I’m going to be asleep.’

‘Poor baby,’ he laughs. ‘Just have a nap until we come back. You work far too hard. This evening we’ll have a nice meal and enjoy our last night of freedom with everyone. I thought you might want to have a wild debauch but your mum thought that you’d rather have a nice meal and spend some time with everyone, and then have an early night.’ He waggles his eyebrows. ‘It’ll be our last night of sinful sex!’

‘When you say “everyone”, who do you mean?’ Molly asks suspiciously.

‘Us, your grandma, Matt’s aunty, my friends, his friends. You. Unless you have a better offer; you don’t have a better offer do you?’

‘Not yet,’ she says, and smiles at him brightly. ‘Maybe I’ll get asked out when I’m shopping!’

‘What friends have you brought over?’

‘Jody and Maggie,’ he says, kissing me. ‘They’d be dragging me off to see strippers if it was up to them, so it’s probably better that we’re going to have a nice night in.’ He waves a hand at Molly. ‘Get your coat on, Miss, time waits for no man and all that, sexism aside.’



When Mohinder moved in he brought one of those horrendously expensive adjustable beds with him, along with the excuse that he’d always wanted one but would’ve felt guilty buying one for his place when he was hardly ever there. It’s the best bed I ever slept in, but the one in the hotel comes a comfortable second I gotta say. It’s quiet, too, although I have to pull the covers over my head to block out the light.

How many people can say that they have a life as good as mine? I have a partner I’m crazy about, a daughter I love, a job I enjoy, and I don’t have to worry about money. It doesn’t bother me as much as it used to that Mohinder is my sugar daddy, more or less. If a sugar daddy can be younger than the guy he’s dating. It’s dumb to think about, I know. I can’t help it, I’m old fashioned. I don’t know what I did to get so lucky, but I’m grateful for it.

I hope I don’t have to make a speech or something. It would be five minutes of me babbling about how much I loved my wonderful, adorable, gorgeous boyfriend that I don’t deserve and never will. I hope Molly’s not draining the bank balance; I hate to think how much he’s spent so far. He’d tell me off if he knew I was lying here thinking about it. He’d tell me that he’s a grown man and can spend his money however he likes. So there.



It’s afternoon when I wake up, although my body clock is still a little unsure where it’s at. I need some coffee and something to eat. Didn’t Mohinder say something about a lounge we can use? I think I need to get myself some of that, but after I’ve spoken to Mohinder.

‘Hello sleepyhead! Are you awake now? We’re having a fabulous time in the city the food festival is on this week and we’ve completely pigged out at the chocolate hall and the German Market but don’t worry I have lots of goodies to bring back to you. How are you?’

‘I just woke up. You sound like you’re having fun. How’s Molly?’

‘She’s got an appointment with the hairdresser in an hour and we’ve already bought her a dress, some shoes, and your mum and aunty helped her pick some makeup.’

‘You’re surrounded by my female relatives?’

‘And Maggie and Jody,’ he giggles.

I have to laugh at that. Women always adore him; looking the way he does and being so… him, they always seem torn between mothering him and flirting with him. And he knows it.

‘Should I be jealous?’ I laugh.

‘Oh no, that’s a horrible and ugly emotion that would be entirely beneath you and besides which you know full well that I would saw off my head with a pen knife before I would so much as look at another man other than you.’

‘Aww, that’s sweet. Disturbing but sweet.’

Someone shouts to Mohinder and he shushes them. ‘What are you doing now?’

‘I thought I’d go find something to eat. Maybe I’ll wander down to the restaurant in my undies.’

‘You could wander along the corridor to the Executive Lounge. They have complimentary goodies and drinkies through the day,’ he suggests. ‘It’ll probably be quiet about now too.’

I look in the mirror of the dressing table and see a sleepy, paunchy, middle-aged man with hair stuck up everywhere and an idiotically happy expression. ‘I’m not sure that I look very executive right now. I have a little chest hair spilling out of the top of my robe.’

‘It’s not fair you saying things like that when I’m not there to do anything about it! I demand you take off your robe at once and go to the Executive Lounge naked.’

I have to sit down before I collapse into giggles. ‘Go and get Molly’s hair done, you nut.’



There are some gorgeous views of the city from the Executive Lounge, if cityscapes are your idea of fun. I do like architecture but not as much as Mohinder does. The coffee is good and strong, although the snacks are a little healthier than I would’ve chosen myself. Fruit and yoghurt is the stuff of skinny girls, not grown men. At least not grown men like me.

Mohinder’s real good about not nagging me about that kind of thing. He cooks some great meals, most of them healthy and nutritious, although now and then we can twist his arm to cook us some lasagne or mac and cheese, but he doesn’t push me to eat “good” breakfasts. He’s not trying to make me something that I’m not, not trying to “fix” me, but is happy for me to be me. It seems like too many don’t have that. That they spend so much time with people who want them to be someone else, some other kind of person, some other person entirely. It’s rough. People got rough edges and those can be smoothed off but that’s just a bit of polishing. Polishing is fine. Trying to turn one person into another is something else completely.

I’m glad he’s having fun. I’m not as sociable as Mohinder is and maybe that gets him down sometimes. I need more quiet time than he does, some time like this to just be by myself.



Everyone arrives back in the late afternoon. I’ve got the doors to the balcony open and there’s orange and gold light flickering in Mohinder’s hair.

‘I can’t believe my own mother kept this secret from me.’

‘Could hardly ruin Mohinder’s big surprise,’ she says.

‘And if we did we might’ve not got our vacation in England!’ Aunt Mary says, giving me a wink.

‘Dad! You haven’t told me how amazing my hair looks!’ Molly complains.

‘Your hair looks amazing.’ I grab Mohinder and pull him close. ‘You did a good job of choosing the hairdresser.’

‘If only I could find one that could do something with my mop,’ he says, shaking his head.

‘I love your hair.’

Molly rolls her eyes. ‘You guys, we’re all still here in the room you know.’

‘Oh leave them be,’ Aunt Mary says, ‘it’s all downhill from here on. Once it’s all washing dirty socks and school runs then all that lovey dovey stuff will be a thing of the past.’

‘Mary!’ Mom hisses.

‘Oh we’ve been living together for more than a year Aunty Mary and although there are plenty of dirty socks and the like we maintain an extremely active and mutually satisfactory sex life,’ Mohinder says happily. ‘That’s right, isn’t it, Matt?’

‘Yeah, definitely.’

Molly throws her arms up into the air. ‘I’m going to be scarred for life.’



After a loud and pretty raucous dinner we pour Aunt Mary into bed, persuade Molly not to go to bed in her dress, and jump into bed.

‘I’m so tired!’ Mohinder says, turning off the light.

‘Yeah, you’ve had a long day sweetheart.’

‘We’ve a long day tomorrow too,’ he yawns as he snuggles against me. ‘It should be fun though. Don’t you think?’

‘Every day with you is fun.’ I kiss the top of his head. ‘You’re too good to me.’

He laughs and pokes me with a sharp elbow. ‘Me! I do nothing. I’m just so glad that you let me do this.’

‘How did you know I’d say yes?’

Mohinder leans over and switches on the lamp. ‘I know that we’re in love. That we love each other. I know that you believe in marriage as an institution.’ He kisses my nose. ‘I didn’t think it was too soon. It made sense. It made sense emotionally and logically. And besides it just felt right. Does it feel right for you?’

I rest my hands on his waist. ‘It feels perfect.’

‘Any chance of a quickie?’

‘I can’t, I’m getting married in the morning and my fiancé will kill me if I’m not well rested.’

‘Spoilsport!’



It’s like a dream. People running around. Molly flapping about her hair, her dress, her shoes. Mohinder dashing around in his underwear talking to photographers and flower people, and goodness knows what else. Meanwhile I’m not allowed to get involved in anything much other than getting ready.

I’m getting married. I’m going to stand in front of my friends of family and announce that I’m going to spend the rest of my life with Mohinder. I’m going to swear myself to the man currently trying to put his pants on backwards as he whispers something about “cloisters” down the telephone.

‘What?’ he asks. ‘Is something wrong?’

‘I’m just thinking how incredibly lucky I am.’

He grins that bright, beautiful grin. ‘Not as lucky as I am.’

‘Are we… are we getting married in the hotel?’

Mohinder shakes his head. ‘I did consider it but a hotel doesn’t really have the sort of ambiance that I was hoping to have for our wedding. Fortunately there are a great variety of venues in the city that cater for civil commitment ceremonies. We could have been married in the science museum! I was very tempted to book there but the place that I’ve picked is better. Much better! Plus if we got married in the hotel then we wouldn’t be able to travel in style.’

He’s been pulling on his shirt as he talks but he’s got the buttons all wrong. I unbutton them and redo them right.

‘Are we going in a horse and carriage?’ I tease.

‘The British weather is far too unreliable to risk my hair that way,’ he says, pulling his tongue out at me. ‘We’re going in a 1925 Rolls Royce.’

‘In your underpants?’

He kisses me on the lips. ‘We probably shouldn’t be seeing each other especially when your mum is right down the hall and would probably love to have breakfast with her son on his wedding day.’

‘That’s real subtle,’ I say, ruffling his hair. ‘But that would be fun. I’ll be right down the hall, okay? I’ll be right back after I’ve eaten.’

‘Go!’ he says. ‘Enjoy your last few hours of freedom before I chain you down forever!’

‘You’re a nut but I love you. Call me if you need me, sweetheart.’



‘Don’t know how you can eat!’ Mom says, shaking her head at me over a mountain of scrambled eggs, smoked salmon, and Greek yoghurt stuff. ‘I was so panicky I couldn’t keep a mouthful of food down.’

‘I’m not panicky, Mom, I’m a little fluttery but not scared or anxious.’ I take a sip of my coffee. ‘I was talking to Mohinder about it last night. It feels right. Some decisions just feel like you’re not even making a decision. Like a slot that you fit into just as naturally as breathing.’

‘That’s how this felt?’ she asks, putting her hand on mine. ‘Mohinder is wonderful, but be sure.’

‘I am sure, Mom. I haven’t felt this sure since I adopted Molly.’

She sniffs a little. She’s always been a little emotional, but that’s my mom and I wouldn’t change her.

‘So proud of you,’ she says, dabbing her eyes.

‘Because I’m getting married?’

She laughs a bit and shakes her head. ‘Oh, Matt. You are funny.’



Mohinder’s hand slides into mine as the door to the Rolls is opened. The leather seats squeak a little and we slide forward towards the door.

‘Nervous?’

‘Couple of little collywobbles,’ he says, squeezing my hand. ‘We’re really doing this.’

‘We really are.’

‘Come on you guys!’ Molly demands from outside the car. ‘I don’t want to get my dress dirty!’

God, she looks so beautiful. Her hair is cascading down over her bare shoulders in a mass of glossy curls. I don’t know dress stuff. I just know that it’s a gold kind of colour that sort of chimes with her hair, and it’s shiny, and she’s got a tiny little waist and… and all the other stuff that beautiful young woman have.

‘You look amazing, Molls. Just amazing.’

‘Oh God Dad don’t start blubbing!’ She slaps Mohinder with the back of her hand. ‘Stop him getting all mushy.’

‘Who’s going to stop me getting mushy?’ he asks.

She rolls her eyes. ‘This is your wedding people, everyone else is supposed to get mushy.’

Mohinder’s hand slips into mine. ‘Turn to the left, Matthew, that’s where we’re getting married.’

‘We’re getting married in a cathedral?’

‘It’s a monastery,’ he says. ‘Nineteenth century actually, designed by EW Pugin, the son of the man who designed the houses of parliament and is one of the finest examples of High Victorian Gothic architecture.’ His thumb strokes the back of my hand. ‘It’s beautiful, don’t you think?’

‘It’s gorgeous. Perfect. Just like you.’

‘Can we go in already?’ Molly demands. ‘What’s the point of hiring an amazing place like that and then not letting me go inside and look at it?’

‘There I was thinking she was in a rush for us to get married.’

Mohinder laughs and squeezes my hand. ‘She’s a teenager. She wouldn’t admit it if she was.’



There’s a choir. We walk in through these enormous oak doors and down the aisle and there’s a choir. Dozens of singers in those robe things singing beautifully. Mohinder’s hand is in mine, Molly’s behind us holding a pillow with cushions on it, the pews are full of the people we love, and Mohinder’s hand is in mine.

‘Ready?’ he asks.

‘Since I met you.’



The End