"Ms. Fricks, we're ready for you."

Rowan nodded meekly at the officer, who walked back to his post. She honestly didn't know if she should even be here. Everything about this screamed 'bad idea', but she needed to know the truth. About everything.

This whole thing that started with Dunbar being Monkeyman and continued with King Cobra and the zoo was too much for Rowan, to take. She made one mistake, and somehow she, along with Hailey and Elisia, deserve all of this?!

She's tired of running, of hiding, of being scared and manipulated. She wants answers. Problem is, she doesn't even know if the person she's here to see is going to give them to her, but she had to try.

Reluctantly, she got up and entered the room where phone visits were made.

It was dimly lit, only 2 lights placed on either side of the room. About 10 stalls were set up, along with foldable chairs on each side of the glass. She passed by other people currently talking to each other. One woman had her kid with her, presumably speaking to the father of her child. It seemed depressing, seeing a family torn apart, the kid has to live with the fact that one of their parents is in jail. Luckily, that wasn't her situation. But in a way, her situation is much worse.

"Mr. Darrow is in the second to last stall," an officer said to her.

She gave a fake smile and thanked him. As she approached it, she felt her heart hammering against her chest. She wanted so badly to chicken out and leave, but it was too late. He was expecting her, and she needed to figure out how to stop all this and move on with her life.

She sat down, refusing to lift her head as she reached for the phone and brought it to her ear.

He was the first one to talk. "Rowan."

She swallowed a lump she didn't know was in her throat, determined not to let him get to her. "Hi, Brandon."

"I can't believe you're really here, that you came to see me." His voice was raspy as if he had been parched for weeks.

"I didn't; I came for answers, for closure." she clarified.

He exhaled. "I should've known, after everything I put you through. You can't even look at me."

Rowan winced at that, knowing that seeing his face would more than likely cloud her judgment. "Do you blame me?"

She ran his free hand through his hair, taking his time with his next sentence.

"I never meant to hurt you, Rowan, not like this."

"But you did!" she nearly yelled, finally looking at him. He looked extremely worse for wear; bags under his eyes, messy brown hair, and majorly chapped lips. But his eyes, his soft, green eyes, they looked exactly the same, and she couldn't will herself to look away. "So you failed anyway."

He smiled slightly at her, which confused her. "What?"

"Still as beautiful as I remember."

Her lips mashed into a hard thin line, the comment clearly upsetting her. The last thing she needed from him was a compliment. "You don't get to say that to me. Not anymore."

"Rowan-"

"Don't, just don't!" She adjusted her chair, bringing her face closer to the glass separating them." How can I possibly trust you when you say things like that?"

He looks down, almost ashamed. "I guess you can't."

"Please, just answer my questions."

He sighed dejectedly. "Okay, what do you want to know?"

I lowered my voice before speaking. "Who's King Cobra? Who else is involved? What's their next move? How do we end this?"

He laughed without humor in his voice as if he was empty inside. He incessantly began tapping his fingers with his free hand, almost as a way to distract himself from the question.

"Brandon, please," she begged.

"You're not gonna like this answer," He admitted, rubbing his face with his free hand in an attempt to wake himself up. "I'm pretty sure King Cobra...is Zoe."

My eye widened. No, it can't be. She's new here and they were friends. Or so she thought.

"But we're friends, are you sure-"

"You asked, I told you. She's Dunbar's cousin looking for revenge."

"But, she hung out with me and Nicki, she was nice to us, and she was there when someone was creeping outside my house."

"All part of the act. Didn't she tell you about her cousin that lived around here? 'Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer' is the saying, right?"

She gulped audibly, in disbelief that she was that trusting, but continued her interrogation. "Who else is involved?"

"Just about everyone, I think. Sean, Trevor, even that new kid Hawk, that's tutoring Hailey."

"How do you know who Hawk-"

"Like I said before Rowan. I started it. I can recognize certain members of the zoo, especially if they're from the camp we went to. Problem is, not all of them go to our school. It got out of control, and it's my fault. I shouldn't have been so quick to blame you for Dunbar's death. If only I knew you how I know you now-."

"Stop, please," she said, cutting him off after feeling tears sting at her eyes. It took a lot of willpower to stop them from falling. Her hand was turning white as she tightened her grip on the phone, trying to conceal all the feelings that she had developed for Brandon. It made her feel stupid, naive, and more than anything, regretful.

"Just answer this last question for me, be completely honest" she pleaded. "Whatever we had, was it real?"

Brandon stopped moving as if she had frozen him. He seemed unsure of how to answer the questions, constantly looking everywhere except at Rowan's face.

"I thought I knew you, Brandon, like I finally understood you. I respected your privacy about your dad, stood up to you when Hailey and Elisia basically told me you were involved in the zoo. I even got close to you when I had Jake…." she trailed off, her voice breaking. "I just...I need you to tell me that you felt something too, that this wasn't one-sided. Please tell me. Did you ever care about me?"

His facial expression was unreadable, which in turn just made hers harden. Her tears began falling freely now, in complete disarray that he, still, hadn't said anything in response to her admission. His eyes never left hers, and she saw his lips making very small movements, but nothing audible came out.

"Say SOMETHING!" she shouted, causing a few heads to turn. Brandon himself flinched, a bit surprised at her tone.

The same officer then approached Rowan, tapping her on the shoulder. "Okay, it's time you go now; your time is up."

She stared at him for a good few seconds before saying "Screw you," and angrily hanging up the phone and standing up out of her seat as the officer led her out of the room. She wiped away her tears softly with her thumbs, deciding that it's best to forget that part of the interaction and focus on letting the girls know what she found out.

Hearing the door to room close, Brandon suddenly felt like he could breathe again. Hearing Rowan's admission out loud seemed to paralyze him, and he had no idea why. But now that he was left with his thoughts, he regretted not saying something to Rowan sooner.

He proceeded to hang up the phone, but not before whispering into it the very thing Rowan wanted to hear:

"I always cared about you Rowan, and I'll never stop."

A/N: Hi! For those who know me from the EWW fandom, hi. I'm exploring new fandoms, and this is one of them! For those who don't know me, hello! I've been a writer on this site since 2015.

This is my first story for this show, and btw, I love this show and #Browan so much, so this was fun to write. NGL, probably not my best work, and if I have time, I'll write something else for this show after Season 3 airs. Hope you enjoyed the fic though! :)