Who: Pamela and Molly What: Pamela checks on Molly When: Tuesday Where: Her old room at Darcy’s place Warnings: None Status: Closed/Complete
Things were settling but were still a mess. Methos was back to normal. Hostages were returned home with little more than a few bruises. That Clint guy was still in the hospital. From the sounds of things he was driving the nurses nuts with not staying in bed. That was someone else’s problem, however. Right now Pamela wanted to check in on a sweet friend.
She’d had to rely on the spirits to find Molly since the girl had taken to hiding. Pamela couldn’t blame her. That had been some scary shit, and Molly was too nice for that. When she got to the door Pamela knocked quietly. “Hey, kiddo,” she called out gently. “It’s Pamela. Can I come in?”
***
Since coming home, Molly had gone right into the only thing she knew would protect her. She hid. She’d hidden before, and it had saved her life, but she’d never thought she would have to do it here. Madison Valley was supposed to be safe.
She’d managed one day at the new house before making her parents take her to her old room. She didn’t feel safe in a place that was still unfamiliar, that she’d only been living in for a little while, that didn’t feel like home. The old house did. It wasn’t theirs anymore, but she’d spent most of her life in this place living in that house, in her room. That felt safe.
She’d curled up with her back against the wall, had locked the window and piled some things up in front of it, looked routinely to make sure one of her dads was still waiting downstairs, there to stop anyone who shouldn’t be there from coming up.
The knock on the door made her jump, squeak in surprise, but the voice that called out was safe, trusted, and she knew Steve never would have let her by if she couldn’t be. So she just pulled her knees to her chest and answered. “Yeah. You can come in.”
She was glad that Pamela wouldn’t be able to see if she’d been crying.
***
Pamela cracked open the door to poke her head in. Her senses told her where everything was including Molly. They also told her how scared and upset the girl was. Pamela was surprised Steve and Bucky weren’t on the warpath after Methos. She’d have to go about this gently.
“Hey,” she said then came all the way into the room. She had a couple of pints of Chunky Monkey in her hands so she used her foot to nudge the door shut. “Thought you could use some sugar.”
***
Molly was less surprised her parents weren’t out getting their revenge. They probably were. She hoped they were. When they weren’t protecting her. She never questioned that she was more important.
“Cool.” She didn’t move from her spot. “Thanks.”
That was really nice, a reminder of why she thought Pamela was cool for a grown up, why she liked her dad’s friend. Because she brought ice cream, and the first thing she’d said wasn’t asking how Molly was holding up. Everyone was really concerned about how she was holding up.
***
“No problem,” she said as she made her way to sit on the bed next to Molly. “I’ll take any excuse to nom some Chunky Monkey.” She chuckled as she held out a pint to Molly.
Asking how she was holding up would be a stupid question. After what she’d been through Pamela would have been worried if Molly was acting normal. “I bought a house,” she said instead of anything else. Stick to normal stuff.
***
If there was anything good about what happened, there wasn’t, but if there was, it would be that everyone was just letting her having everything she wanted.
Taking the ice cream, Molly unfolded a little, just enough so that she could dive into it.
“I thought you had a house.”
With roommates and stuff. And that Star girl.
***
“No,” Pamela said as she pulled the top off her own pint. “I lived in a house that other people owned. I had a room. Now I have a house all to myself.” She smirked as she stuck a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth. “Well, me and Thor when he comes over.”
Take the bait, sweetie. You need to be reminded that life goes on. Once upon a time Molly would have latched onto the idea of a romance like a moth to a flame. Pamela hoped she would this time too.
***
“Why’s Thor going over? Are you dating him now?”
Being kidnapped didn’t suck that curiosity out of her. She wanted to know about the things that she’d missed, felt like it was so much, so long that she hadn’t gotten to see because of what had happened. She had a lot to catch up on, and Molly was determined to do it.
This wasn’t the first time something bad had happened to her. She’d come back all the other times, and she’d been stronger for it. She really hoped that was going to be true again.
***
Pamela grinned. There was an edge of sheepishness to it that wasn’t normal for the psychic. “Yeah. I am.” Pamela shrugged a shoulder then shoved more ice cream into her mouth before continuing. “Weird, huh? Guess it took a thunder god to settle my ass down.”
That was her story and she was sticking to it.
***
“Huh.” A beat. “He’s weird.”
In a cool way, though. Molly liked Thor. And Pamela was sort of weird too, so maybe they should be weird together. It made sense to her.
The fact that Thor was weird was more important than the weirdness of her dating him. Anyone dating him would be weird.
***
Pamela chuckled as Molly labeled Thor weird. “Yeah, but he’s a really hot weird, and he treats me right.” She wrinkled her nose. “Like a lady, even. I can’t get it through his head that I am the farthest thing from a lady.”
Another spoon of ice cream. “I haven’t actually dated a guy in...years.” She had to think about it for a moment. “Most of them are too much of a pain in the ass, but something about Thor...I don’t know. Makes me want to give a try, I guess.”
***
“It’s probably because he’s an alien.” Molly didn’t even stop to hope that Pamela actually knew that Thor was an alien, not just a really big weird human guy.
She didn’t really have anything to judge about, though. For one, her boyfriend was a werewolf, and for another, she really didn’t care who or why the adults wanted to date. Their love lives held limited interest for her.
“Is your house nice?” she asked absently, mostly just poking at the ice cream she held.
***
Pamela knew Thor wasn’t from Earth. She wasn’t sure she’d label him an alien, all though the word could apply. “Probably,” she said as she lounged down across the bed on her side. “Only I would be able to say no Earth guy is good enough.” She laughed.
“Yeah, pretty nice,” she said. “Has a small yard. And an extra room for guests that need crash space.” Pamela didn’t give Molly a pointed look. She just threw that information out there to let the girl know she had a safe space at her house too.
***
The problem with that was that even if she knew she had plenty of safe places to be, only this one felt safe. She could only relax and stop feeling afraid here. It wasn’t even her house anymore but it was the only place where she could look at the red, raw skin on both her wrists, rubbed that way by the ropes she’d been tied with to prevent her escape and the constant struggling to get out of them, and not immediately start crying.
“You should get a puppy.” Dogs were definitely the answer. Hers was brought by sometimes, slept next to her. He was still pretty little, but he made her feel better anyway. “A cute one like Cap.”
Her dog’s name had sort of shifted since they’d gotten him, and it was mostly Bucky’s fault.
***
Pamela’s brows lifted. She hadn’t actually thought of getting a pet, but it wasn’t a bad idea for more reasons that just to have companionship. “Yeah?” She chuckled as she shrugged a shoulder. “Maybe. Wanna help me look at some at the shelter? Be my eyes.”
She was testing the waters here. Pamela wouldn’t push, but she wanted to get an idea of just how much of a shut in Molly needed to be right now.
***
“Can my dad come too?”
There was no way Molly was going anywhere without protection. Very specific protection. Her dad was a superhero, the sort that could actually do things to protect people, not the useless sort that she’d always imagined she was. She had completely useless powers, and couldn’t even defend herself.
Molly kind of hated that right now. She hated that she needed people to protect her.
But at the same time, she knew that, especially right now, there was no way she could do it herself.
***
“Duh,” Pamela said with a smile. Good! Molly was at least willing to try to go out even if she needed Steve or Bucky there too. It was a promising first step. Pamela wasn’t as worried about her now. “Both of them can come. I don’t care.”
***
“Cool.” A beat. “I’m pretty sure Bucky’s scared of you, though.” Which was kind of funny, because he was super strong and super scary himself, and Pamela was just nice and fun. Molly didn’t pretend to understand it.
“Can I tell you a secret?”
She’d been thinking for a while about it. Since she’d been taken.
***
“Scared of me?” That made Pamela burst into laughter. “Why is he scared of me?” She hadn’t scared a man in ages. It kind of felt good! Poor Bucky.
The chuckles died down leaving a smile on Pamela’s face. “Of course.” This could be about anything, but Pamela was prepared for heavy.
***
Molly just shrugged. She didn’t know why. She didn’t even know if he really was. She just got that feeling and guessed it was right. It was probably because he had scrambled eggs for brains and she could see stuff or something dumb. Obviously her powers didn’t work like that.
“I’m going to learn how to fight.” There was no question in it. She had to do it if she was ever going to be comfortable being alone again. She had to be able to protect herself. “I’m sick of being kidnapped.”
Said like a girl who’d had it happen a lot more than once. Molly didn’t know if she could even remember how many times it had happened to her before here.
***
There was no hesitation. “Good for you!” Pamela said as she reached out to push gently at Molly’s knee. “Take my advice. Get a bunch of different people to teach you. That way you learn a little bit of everything, and your dads don’t get brain freeze from seeing their darling little girl turning into a badass.”
It was a really good idea. Molly would feel more confident.
***
Molly nodded. She had ideas. “I want the totally normal human people to teach me.” If they were girls too, all the better. “No super powers.”
Because she didn’t have useful powers. Not for fighting. Just powers that made people want her to do things for them, find people for them. That hadn’t been why she’d been taken this time, not as far as she knew anyway, but it was bound to happen again if she didn’t learn to defend herself.
“My dads will freak if I tell them.” Probably. “You know how they are.”
***
Pamela smiled. Yeah, she knew how Steve was, and Molly might be right. Steve might freak...or he might support the idea. Either way, Pamela was in support of this and could round up a few people who had the balls...or tits...enough to go up against Rogers.
“Want me to talk to him?” Steve would always at least listen.
***
“Nah,” she shrugged, poking at her ice cream some more. “I’m just going to do it before they can say anything.”
She was pretty sure that, if they actually thought about things, and accepted for half a second that she wasn’t just a little girl, they’d think it was a good idea. The trouble was making them do that.
“Unless you can convince him I’m not a little kid.” That was basically impossible.
***
Pamela wasn’t sure that was such a great idea, but she didn’t want to argue with Molly right now. If the girl didn’t talk to Steve or Bucky before too long she’d put a bug in their ear.
“Sweety, you could be thirty and I don’t think I could convince him you’re not a little kid.” She gave Molly a regretful smile. “Kind of the nature of being a dad. It’s stupid, but there it is.”
***
Molly didn’t even bother grumbling that technically they weren’t even her real dads. They were as much her parents as anyone had ever been after her birth parents had been killed. Even Bucky who hadn’t even been here for a whole year yet. Instead she just shrugged and leaned against the wall, actually relaxing a little.
“They’re going to have to get over it. I’m almost sixteen.”
And when she felt safe being alone outside this room again, she was going to want a car.
***
“And don’t let them tell you otherwise,” Pamela said around a spoonful of ice cream. There always came a time when the darling daughter had to put her foot down and remind her father that he had raised a capable and intelligent young woman. The dads hated it, but couldn’t really argue since it was their own doing.
“Has your boyfriend been by yet?” Pamela asked, changing the subject. “What’s his name? Eugene. Dwight? I can never remember.” She was being purposely dense.
***
Molly’s dads hadn’t really done much of her raising. At this point, only about a quarter of her life. But that didn’t really matter it had been an influential quarter.
“Liam.” She made a face. “Of course he came to visit. He likes me.” She wasn’t really sure why, but it was awesome that he did, because she really really liked him. He might not be the first boy she ever liked, but he was different than the others.
***
Pamela chuckled as she got exactly the reaction she wanted. Correcting her seemed to help give Molly a little more confidence back. At least for a little while.
“Good,” she said as she jabbed at what was left of her ice cream. “I’d hate to have to go kick his ass. Wouldn’t do much for a male ego to be pummelled by a blind woman.”
***
Molly would never understand why everyone always seemed so eager to try and beat up her boyfriend. Who had never been anything but super cool and nice and great. She might not really know what made a boyfriend great but she was pretty sure that Liam had it.
“He’s a werewolf. He’d win.”
And he’d protect her. She felt safe with him. Almost as safe as when her dads were there.
***
So long as Liam continued to make Molly happy there wouldn’t be a need for an ass kicking. Pamela was happy the girl had him right now. He might be the best thing for her.
“I cheat,” she said.
Pamela chuckled again as she jammed the lid back on the ice cream. “Well, look. I’ve got a new house to get furnished and fixed up which means I need to poke a thunder god into action. I expect you to come by sometime. See the new place.”
***
“Okay.” She even smiled a little. Maybe she was too used to being traumatized. “Have a party.”
People did housewarming parties. That was a thing. And Molly would feel a lot better about going places if there were a lot of people around. More people was safer.
***
“That’s the plan,” Pamela said with a smile and a wink. After everything that’s happened recently a party might be desperately needed.
She got up from her sprawl on the bed only to offer Molly a hug. If the girl didn’t want it Pamela wouldn’t push it. “Take it easy, cutie. I miss your smile.” Which was odd since Pamela couldn’t see it, but it was true nonetheless.
***
Molly accepted the hug, even gave one right back. She didn’t mind that. She hurt and she was tired but she liked being shown that people still loved her.
“It was nice of you to come visit.”
It was nice of everyone to come visit. But Molly really liked Pamela. She really was cool for a grown up.
***
“Anytime, sweetie,” Pamela replied with a smile. “And any excuse for ice cream.” She chuckled as she tucked a strand of Molly’s hair back. She was reassured that Molly would be all right so felt better about getting on with this moving thing.