A/N: Once again, I'm sorry about the wait but I am now a few chapters in advance so this definitely won't be happening again. Thank you for the follows, favourites and feedback, I really do appreciate it. I hope you continue to enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it! Thank you to my beta hellokhaleesi
As soon as his lunch break had ended at 1, Isaac was checking the clock every few minutes. The afternoon seemed to drag on and on. He was to finish at 5 and head home where Scott would be waiting with Hope. Around an hour later, their friends would arrive to meet the little girl and Isaac would slip out and head over to his sister's house. Once there, he would let himself in and gather as many clothes of Hope's that he could without drawing attention to himself from the neighbours. Then, he'd return home and wait for his friends to leave.
Although he and Scott hadn't really discussed it, he supposed that it would then be time to take Hope and make their getaway. Melissa would be out until late on the night shift and so wouldn't happen to wake up and catch them leaving. Isaac felt very bad about just abandoning Melissa like that, but deep down he knew that she'd understand. She had to understand.
The real issue would be to decide on where they were going to go. Isaac had a maternal great-aunt in Detroit who would certainly take them in, but he couldn't see Hope being at all happy with travelling over halfway across the country. Scott's father was still in San Francisco but they hadn't spoken in years, and Raphael had connections to both the FBI and the state police anyway so that option was completely out of the picture. Isaac had no real alternative; he just hoped that Scott would have a plan, or that a brainwave would strike at the right moment.
"Excuse me," a young man said to Isaac. "Could you help me with a wardrobe please?"
Isaac broke his thoughts to go and help the guy. Working eight hour shifts in a furniture store had never really been a life dream of his, but it was good money and fairly easy. The only problem was the boredom. Sometimes the store was so dead that an hour would pass without a single person approaching him. He'd pass the time by tidying or restocking the baskets in front of his cash register that were perpetually half-filled with screwdrivers, batteries and other things that you'd think people would need in a furniture store, but that in reality often lay untouched for months.
"Redecorating?" Isaac asked the guy, placing a hand under the bottom edge of the wardrobe. He figured a conversation might help time pass a little quicker.
The guy nodded.
"Yeah," he said. "Had a break up, I just fancy a change."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Isaac said sincerely.
"I'm not," the guy smiled. "She was a dick."
Isaac laughed.
Between the two of them, the wardrobe was no trouble at all. Isaac wasn't as scrawny as he'd once been and tall, dark and handsome had muscles that you could see through his shirt. As they set the wardrobe down by the cash register, the guy straightened up and smiled. He offered out his hand.
"I'm Derek," he said. "It's nice to meet you, Isaac."
Isaac reddened slightly but he shook Derek's hand anyway.
"You too," he said. "Um, how did you know my name?"
Derek squinted an eye and raised the opposite brow.
"You're wearing a name tag."
"Oh right."
As Isaac walked the fairly short journey back home, he thought about the conversation he'd struck up with the stranger called Derek. It had only been a few minutes that they'd chatted for but Isaac got an unnerving feeling that this random customer knew exactly what was going through his head.
It was a feeling that he'd grown accustomed to throughout the time he'd spent living with his father but this was the first time he'd ever gotten such a vibe from a stranger, and it freaked him out.
Isaac had made an innocent comment, saying that Derek looked quite familiar.
"You might have seen me before," Derek had said. "My sister and me live a ten minute drive from here."
And then Derek had asked if Isaac had any siblings.
"A brother," Isaac replied. "But he died. I have a sister too," he added as an afterthought, realizing that it had been a very long time since he'd been able to honestly tell someone that he had a living sibling.
And then Derek had said something that totally unsettled Isaac.
"Yeah, we've gotta do anything to protect our little sisters, right?"
In hindsight, it was probably just an innocent comment. In fact, it was almost certainly just that. But Isaac couldn't stop the uncomfortable guilty feeling from building up. And even three hours after he'd seen the back of Derek, he still couldn't shake it.
Isaac knew that kidnap was a crime and that crimes are generally wrong. Not many laws were made without good reason. But there was also a part of him that believed with total conviction that this would be a justified crime; a crime that he would commit for the good of another person. He was going to rescue her, not endanger her. Perhaps she might not understand his reasoning immediately, but Hope knew that what her father did was wrong. He was sure of it.
No amount of coincidentally relatable strangers would ever have been able to change his mind.
"ISAAC!"
He hadn't even closed the door behind him when a near eight foot tall lump of evil pounced on him. It wouldn't be unfair to say that Isaac nearly shit himself.
"Was that necessary?" he asked, sounding even more annoyed than he felt. Scott's face dropped a little and he realized that he had no reason to be annoyed at his fiancé and sister. "I'm sorry."
He pulled Hope into a hug from on top of Scott's shoulders and squeezed her tight. Either she didn't notice that there was anything amiss, or she forgave him really quickly, but it didn't matter to Isaac. He held her warm body against his own cool one and ran his fingers down her neck until she shivered.
"You're cold!" she giggled, trying – and failing – to wriggle out of Isaac's grasp.
"You're warm!" Isaac said, a sincere smile touching his lips for the first time in what felt like years. He kissed her on the nose and put her down on the ground.
"Why don't we play a game?" he said.
"GAME GAME GAME!" Hope screamed in ecstasy.
"Okay," Isaac said. "The game is called 'find where I hid the chocolate and you can have a bar'."
Hope squealed and ran off into the kitchen. Scott watched her leave and turned back to Isaac smiling a little.
"What was that about?" he asked.
"I'm sorry," Isaac said. "I shouldn't have snapped but some guy really gave me the creeps earlier and now I can't get it out of my head."
"Would it help if you talked about it?"
"No, but it would help if you distracted me."
Scott grinned as Isaac pulled him in for a kiss. When Isaac's left hand went to rest beneath his jaw though, Scott jumped.
"What's wrong?" Isaac asked. "Did I hurt you?"
"No," Scott smiled. "She was right; your hands are fucking freezing."
Stiles and Lydia arrived together, as did Kira and Malia. By 6:15, the seven of them were spread out across the lounge area with Hope the centre of attention.
She danced and giggled in the presence of everyone – clearly being the focus of six different people at once was alien to her, but it was a new experience that she was relishing. Her slight shyness disappeared completely as soon as she had realized that everybody there had brought sweets and games.
Kira and Malia were absolutely taken with her immediately. The three girls crawled around the floor in pursuit of each other. Stiles and Lydia remained on the sofa, but joined in whenever Hope came close.
Isaac stood in the door frame and watched, a smile playing on his lips. While Malia and Kira were clearly going a little over the top in order to please Hope, Scott was going miles over. He'd taken a purple feather boa and draped it around his neck, above the dog onesie that he had on. Crawling on all fours, he was committing to his portrayal of a dog, and Hope absolutely loved it.
Her shrieking laughter was much louder than a person would expect from someone so small. Scott looked up at Isaac a little alarmed. They held each other's gaze for a second or two – Scott realized quickly that there was nothing to be alarmed about – and Isaac gestured for him to follow him into the hallway.
"Hey," Scott said, upon closing the lounge door behind him.
"I'm going to… you know," Isaac replied.
"What?" Scott asked. "Break into your dad's house?"
Isaac nodded. It sounded absurd when he put it like that.
"Just be careful," Scott smiled. "Obviously, this is quite a dodgy thing we're gonna do. Make sure your dad isn't there."
Isaac laughed.
"Nah," he said. "I was going to just break in without checking. I have a key though."
"Key or no key," Scott said. "It's still illegal. Don't get caught."
Isaac smiled and kissed him. Scott held on for a little bit longer than was necessary, but the two of them quickly jumped apart at the sound of "SCOTT" coming from the other side of the door.
"Right," Isaac said. "I'll be back as soon as I can."
He had to admit, it was strange being inside his father's house. Although this wasn't where he himself had grown up, Isaac could feel Joseph's presence and influence all over. He decided that the easiest way to do this was to get in and get out as quickly as possible – without any distractions.
Ignoring the photographs on the walls, and the doors to his right, he moved up the stairs and onto the first floor landing. Only three doors led off from the top floor landing. One was open and Isaac could clearly see that it was Joseph's bedroom. The colouring and style was very similar to that of his bedroom at their old home.
The staircase was a grand thing; eighteen steps ran up the wall on the left-hand side of the house. The house itself was not even; the ground floor was about twice the size of the floor above it. The top floor was as long as the staircase and as wide as the rest of the house. The upstairs landing was L-shaped with the stairs meeting the short side of the L. Joseph's bedroom was the furthest door away from the staircase. The two doors that stood between the room and Isaac were close.
Sweating, Isaac reached out and opened the first door. It was a room, painted pink with a bunk-bed against the far wall and toys littered across the floor. Isaac let the backpack he'd brought slide down his arm and into his hand. He opened it as he approached the wardrobe.
There was no real decision making involved in choosing what clothes to take. It was just a case of picking up whatever caught Isaac's eye. He made sure that he took a variety; ten dresses wouldn't help on a cold and rainy day.
Once he was satisfied, Isaac thought about what else he needed. He thought about getting her toothbrush but decided against it; Joseph might notice that it was gone before they'd even set on their way, and in any case, toothbrushes weren't expensive.
He looked over at Hope's bed and saw the small teddy on the pillow. He picked it up and stuffed it into the now bulging bag.
"Think that's everything," Isaac said aloud to himself.
In his mind he went through the checklist of what he'd retrieved and what he was missing. His mind drew a blank when considering the latter.
He closed Hope's door securely behind him and hoped that Joseph wouldn't look in Hope's room, or at least not too in-depth.
On his way out, Isaac allowed himself a pause. A picture hanging above the staircase had caught his eye and as he looked at it, his mother, his brother and he himself looked back out at him.
The picture had been taken when Isaac was only six or seven. Camden was maybe twelve or perhaps a little older. And their mother was a little over thirty and looked absolutely beautiful. Her fair hair fell down to her smile which in turn was emphasised by the light make up. Her blue eyes that shone like they were the focus of the picture – and Isaac would have struggled to argue otherwise – seemed to brighten the entire world by just a fraction.
Camden was tall despite being fairly young. He was at the stage of his life when puberty was beginning to take effect and his face was a mess of spots, sweat and dirt. Clearly, personal hygiene wasn't something that interested his brother in his youth. Yet, there were traces of the handsome man that the young boy became. His jawline was sharp, and his eyes were soft and kind.
Between the two of them was Isaac. He was short and scrawny, all bone and no meat. But his eyes were squeezed shut in a hysterical laugh and his cheeks were red from the effort.
Isaac smiled sadly at the picture. He remembered the day it was taken. The three of them had been preparing for a family photo. Joseph had been late home so Isaac and Camden talked their mom into taking the picture without him. Apparently Joseph's car had broken down and he'd walked the last five miles home in order to make the picture. Isaac was laughing so hysterically because just as the picture was about to be taken, he saw his father through the lounge window, sweating and exhausted.
And when Joseph saw Isaac laughing at him, he didn't get angry, he didn't shout and he didn't hit. He smiled.
Isaac locked the front door behind him and replaced the key under the mat. Part of him wished that he'd never seen the photo.
Once Isaac returned home, he knew something was amiss. When he walked back into the lounge having already dumped the backpack in the closet, he was met with four pairs of angry-looking eyes. Scott looked sheepish; Hope was oblivious.
Shit, Isaac thought. They know.