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Chapter Two
"Is in my eyes!" Vivienne cried, her bright blue eyes filling with tears.
Mia sighed; the shampoo wasn't even to the girl's forehead. She poured another cup of bathwater over Vivienne's head, making her jump around and swivel her hair roughly, splashing Mia's shirt.
"Vivienne," Mia said, trying to keep the tone out of her voice, "Honey, it's just water."
"It hurts!"
"Because you think it does," she told her, rinsing out the rest of the shampoo. Vivienne pouted at the water, jutting out her mouth, which she had earned from her mother.
Mia helped her over the bathtub and then threw a princess towel around her shoulders, drying her off and then moving up to her dark brown hair, which was starting to tangle and curl.
Right when Mia grabbed the comb, her phone started to ring, making her jump and hustle over to grab it, sitting back down on the small bed in Vivienne's room with Vivienne sitting in front of her. Gently combing through the tangles, she answered, "Roscoe."
"Hey, it's Tara."
"Yeah, I know, I'm late," She apologized. "I'm sorry-"
"It's fine," Tara said. "I was just checking up."
"Well, thank you. And I'll be in in a bit," Mia answered, spritzing in more detangle spray. Vivienne looked up and whispered, "Mommy, I'm late?"
Mia shook her head at her and then picked her up, carrying her to her room, "Go find some underwear, sweetheart."
Vivienne nodded, "Okay."
Vivienne looked through her drawers while Mia spoke into the phone, "I'll be there soon-"
Tara chuckled kindly, "Don't worry about it, Mia. I know how hard it's been after David. Stilinski's excusing it. You know how he bends the rules for you"
"Yeah," Mia paused, looking over to Vivienne, who was pulling her underwear on backwards. She rolled her eyes lightheartedly and went to help her. "I don't want him to feel like I'm taking advantage, though. Uh, but, I'll be there in a bit."
"Alright."
She hung up and helped Vivienne pull on the rest of her clothes, combing her hair up into pigtails. Then, she helped her put on her new jacket and buckled her into the car seat.
"Did we get any leads?" Mia asked, checking in. Tara shook her head, answering, "No, but there's a scheduled curfew tonight: Everyone under the age of eighteen in their homes by 9:30 PM."
Mia nodded, "Sounds good to me. We don't need any more teenagers running around." She had been referring to Scott running around in the woods, but Tara hadn't known that and had given her a confused look. Mia shook her head, "Never mind, Tara. Don't worry about it."
Sheriff Stilinski walked inside, sending a blast of cool air into the department. He looked over and smiled at Mia, "Good to see you're coming to work today."
"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry," She said, leaning back against the counter.
The sheriff patted her shoulder and chuckled, "Just teasing. Oh, there's a self-defense demonstration at the school in a couple hours," he mentioned, pointing over to Tara. He moved his finger to Mia, "And the car is still getting fixed, so you can patrol with me today."
"No service calls?" She asked.
"Not today," Stilinski told her.
"Great," Mia said.
It was around seven when Derek decided he needed more clothes to wear. He hadn't owned many and they were already beginning to smell rancid inside his duffel.
He dumped the duffel on top of a bench next to some other laundry basket with a kid sitting next to it; a cute little brunette with her hair up in a bun and wearing a jacket that matched her pants over a pink shirt. She was no older than four at the most. The girl looked up at Derek and then jumped off the bench and ran over to a young woman a couple machines down. Derek stuffed the clothes in and shuffled through the counter for some soap. He grit his teeth and kept digging.
"Need to borrow some," asked a voice.
Derek turned to see a woman holding up a little plastic pod with assorted soaps built into it. He furrowed his brows and studied her.
"It's laundry soap," she said with a small smile, "Do you need any?"
Derek nodded and took it from her. She smiled and looked over at his clothes bunched into the wash, frowning a bit.
"If you put those white shirts in with the others, the color'll run," she told him.
"Don't really have enough soap for two loads," he replied, looking through the clothes.
"You can borrow another if you'd like."
He recognized her voice and realized that he'd met her somewhere else before. While he thought it out, he dug the whites from the colors while she set another soap pod on top of his washing machine.
"Mommy!"
The woman smiled and looked down at the young girl, stroking her hair and asking, "Yeah?"
She pulled her mother's hand down and Derek recognized her also. Well, not so much the little girl as the features she possessed.
Suddenly, he knew who he was speaking to.
"You're Mia?" He asked.
She looked up at him with eyes that shone a bright blue with flecks of green.
"Uh, yeah," she said with some hesitation, "do I know you?"
His eyebrows jumped and he nodded roughly, "You were David's girlfriend."
Her eyes lit up, "Right! Derek, I'm sorry I didn't recognize you. You look so different."
Derek nodded again while she took some towels from the dryer next to him. She took them over to the counter while a couple more people shuffled through the door. Mia began to fold them while Vivienne sat at the bench beside it, watching the two in silence. Derek looked down at her and managed the smallest of smiles. She smiled back with a full set of baby teeth.
"Is she David's?" He asked roughly but timidly.
"Oh?" Mia smiled back at Vivienne, who leaned her head back against the bench and huffed impatiently.
Her voice was sorrowful and her eyes lingered along with her smile, which had begun to fade, "Yeah, she is."
"She looks like him," Derek commented.
Mia nodded and set the piles of cloths and towels in the basket she'd brought, sitting beside Vivienne, who yawned and leaned against her arm. She sat up on her knees and cupped her hand around her little mouth and whispered in her mother's ear, "Can we go yet?"
Mia whispered back with a petite smile, "We're almost done." She turned to Derek and asked, "So, how have you been de-doing?"
How have you been dealing?
Derek closed the washing machine door, his whites stacked on top of it. He looked back and saw she was smiling at him gently, as if expecting an answer.
"Been better," he answered honestly. "How're you and David doing?"
Mia's breath caught in her throat, "What?"
Derek looked to see her face grow paler, her eyes slightly wider with surprise. She gave him a sympathetic look and asked, "You haven't heard yet, have you?"
He instantly had the familiar feeling of dread soaking his insides.
"Heard what?" He asked gingerly, his voice growing coarse.
She stood up and walked next to him, looking him in the eye, "He passed away a few months ago."
Derek grit his teeth and stared at her, finding hints of mixed emotions in her lovely eyes.
"How?" Derek asked.
She sighed, "There was a car accident."
He looked up after hearing a blip in her heartbeat on the simple but deadly word: accident. He looked for any signs of lying. She remained with that look in her eyes.
She rubbed his shoulder, but said nothing else.
Mia sat by Vivienne and moved over a little on the bench, patting the seat next to her, "You want to sit?"
"I'm fine," Derek said.
Mia nodded. It wasn't a wonder why she didn't recognize him; he looked so altered, carried himself differently with that particular guise in his eye.
It was the look of a man who'd been beaten down.
"Okay," she said.
It was quiet for a few minutes, Derek leaning against the washing machine, thinking about his next move while Vivienne yawned loudly to show her patience was waning while lying against Mia's arm. The dryer stopped and Mia took out the clothes, moving her lips to the music playing in the Laundromat and folded them silently. She put them into the same basket and Vivienne sat up primly, "All done?"
"All done," Mia confirmed. She smiled at Derek warmly, "Maybe I'll see you later."
Derek watched them leave, somehow finding pity for David that he would never see his daughter grow up, though the feeling wouldn't last very long.