Shout out to Bree, Ihong and Tesla424 for reviewing! Screw it, i'll do the episode jump! Man, I kind of want them to kiss right now too :/ But I can't rush it! I just can't! Just think of this chapter as the episode after last chapter. I do this because certain situations match up or there's a Derek/Ashlee moment that would work well there. Hope you don't get confused, enjoy!
Plucky Pennywhistle's Magical Menagerie 7x14
Ashlee's p.o.v
I wait by Derek's camaro as he answers the pay phone.
"I am the eggman" Derek says with an eyeroll. I can tell he's talking to Frank Deveraux, hence the code phrase. They talk for all of 2 minutes before Derek walks over.
"Anything?" I ask.
"No leads on Dick" he sighs. "Frank doesn't even know what he's doing in Wisconsin"
"Well that helps" I say sarcastically.
"Get in the car" he says.
"Do I get a please?" I ask sweetly. Derek smiles.
"Get in the car. Now" he says. I roll my eyes with a chuckle, getting in the passenger seat.
"Where are we headed?" I ask him, winding down the window so the wind can whip through my hair.
"Wichita. I think there's a case" he tells me, leaning over to turn on the radio. I lean into my seat, closing my eyes.
"Wake me up when we're there" I say. I let 'You Shook Me All Night Long' by ACDC, one of Derek's favourites, lull me to sleep.
..
"Okay..that was a little weird, even for us" I say as we leave the hospital room. We just examined the body of a man who was covered in hickeys. Hickeys done by a, as the doctor called it, a 30-foot giant Pacific octopus. And even weirder, it looks like the octopus has vampire teeth judging by the bite wound. We drive to the man's wife's house.
"If you want to know what he was doing that night, ask Stacey" she says with a little malice. Her eyes are red from crying and I feel for the lady. She has a young daughter who she has to raise by herself now.
"Who's Stacey?" I ask her. She turns to me.
"Our nanny" she says, holding back tears. Oh.. "Any more questions?" she asks, looking between us.
"No. Thank you for your time" Derek says. We stand up and leave her house.
"One of us needs to check out the naughty nanny, other needs to watch the house" I say.
"What do you wanna do?" he asks me.
"I'm not really into nannys, i'll leave the 'getting answers' to you" I grin. He rolls his eyes.
"Yeah right. I'm sure if I just ask, she'll tell me what I need to know"
"Don't be afraid to get your hands dirty Hale" I tease. He chuckles and goes for the camaro. As much as I tease him, i'd prefer he didn't 'get his hands dirty' with the nanny. Or anyone for that matter. He nods as he drives away. I walk the street, looking at all the houses, inspecting. After about 15 minutes, my phone starts to ring.
"Yeah" I answer.
"The nanny didn't have anything important to say. You should talk to Kelly alone though, if you can" he says. I look back at the house to see the very girl drawing in chalk on her driveway.
"Yeah, I can do that" I say.
"Be careful" he says.
"I always am. I'll see you soon" I say before hanging up. I make my way back over to Kelly's house. I crotch down and she looks up at me. I smile at her. "Hi Kelly, what are you drawing?"
"My Mum will be mad if I talk to you" she says.
"Why?" I ask softly.
"Because of what I told the cops" she says. Before I can even ask her what she told them, her Mum comes outside, demanding she comes back inside. I lock eyes with the mother, watching them disappear behind the front door. I look down at her drawing. Of course. I pull my phone out and snap a picture of the chalk drawing off an octopus with vampire teeth.
..
"Really? Why can't I talk to Billy?" I groan.
"Wait. You don't still have that thing about clowns, right?" he asks, amusement in his voice.
"Shut up" I ground out. He laughs. "I'm better with kids then you are anyway" I say.
"I'm halfway there already. There's a rental outside, go to Plucky's" he says before hanging up. God I hate him so much sometimes.
..
The whole time the manager, Jean Holliday, is telling me about their 'Wall of Fear' drawings, i'm watching everything inside. There are clown heads EVERYWHERE. Clown cut-outs, clown games, clown manikens, people dressed as clowns. Argh. I hate this place. If I had my way, i'd burn it to the ground. Jean tells me how Billy's Dad, the newest victim, pulled a douchebag scene at Billy's friend's birthday party the night before. Billy was upset and his father made him leave. I thank her for the information and pull my phone out to ring Derek.
"Hey" someone says. I look around but don't see the person. "Hey" they say louder. I look around again and the janitor catches my eye while emptying a bin. He motions for me to come over.
"Uh..yeah?"
"Are you a cop?" he asks.
"FBI" I say, showing him my ID. "Do you have something you need to tell me?" I ask.
"Not now. Come back at closing" he says. He turns away from me and ignores me, ending the conversation.
"Okay.." I say, turning to leave.
..
"Dinner" Derek says when I walk in, putting a box of chinese in front of me.
"Aw, thanks" I tease, pinching his cheek. I sit down and open it up. It smells delicious. I start eating.
"What'd you find out?" Derek asks. I sigh.
"Can we not talk about work for 5 seconds?" I ask.
"So, what'd you find out?" he asks again with a smirk.
"Dick" I mutter. "I found out Billy's Dad pulled one of those dick parent moves that makes everyone cringe" I say. I tell him about how they get the kids to draw their fears so Plucky can magically take them away. "And this is what I saw Kelly drawing" I say, putting my phone down between us and showing him the picture I took earlier.
"So Kelly draws this thing and it attacks her father. Is that what we're thinking?" Derek asks.
"Looks like it" I say. "What'd did you find out?" I ask. He pulls a piece of paper from his suit and shows me it. "A unicorn?"
"Billy drew it for me" Derek says.
"Since when did kids like you?" I tease.
"Shut up" he says half heartedly.
"Now, can we eat and not talk about work?" I ask. He nods, starting to eat his own food. I finish before him. I yawn, stretching my legs so they're on his lap. He looks down at them with a raised eyebrow. "Think of it as payback for making me go to Plucky's" I say.
"So you are still scared of clowns?" he asks, a grin coming to his lips.
"They have cold, dead eyes and no man should wear that much make-up or wear those ridiculously frightening clothes" I defend.
"After everything we've been through, everything we've seen, this is what scares you?" he asks.
"What can I say? Not everyone's as awesome as me" I tease. He chuckles and his phone starts to ring. He answers it and his smile falls.
"Thank you" he says, hanging up. "We have to go" he says. Damn.
..
We pull up outside Plucky's and there's caution tape and ambulances and police cars. Someone's dead. We get out, showing them our badges, well fake badges. Derek checks the body and I go talk to the cops. Derek motions for them to take the body away as I walk over. Damn. It was the janitor that wanted to help me.
"Do they have a theory?" Derek asks.
"Yeah, they think it was the pump thing, you know that washes the balls?" I say. I know what it's called, I just want to hear him say it.
"The ball washer?" he asks, unimpressed by my words.
"The what?" I push.
"The ball washer" he repeats. A huge grin comes to my face. He smacks my arm lightly. "Really? I swear you're a damn child" he says.
"You love me" I say, nudging him.
"Yeah, okay" he says with a smirk.
"So the body?"
"Those were definately shark bites" he tells me.
"How big?" I ask. He uses his hands to show me. "Uh, 20-footer" I say. He narrows his eyes in confusion. "Seriously? You still haven't watched shark week? Dude, you suck" I say.
"I promise you, one day i'll watch it with you" he says.
"Good" I smile triumphantly. We go into Plucky's. We're using torches as the lights are out. Derek finds the shark drawing but i'm focused on all the clown faces. It's worse in the dark.
"Boo" Derek whispers in my ear making me jump.
"Derek!" I scowl. He laughs and I burrow my eyebrows angerily at him. "You're such an asshole"
"You love me" he says sweetly.
..
I get to work with Dad's journal while Derek checks online.
"Find anything?" Derek asks.
"Uh.." I say, quickly flicking away from the page I was just on. "Nope" I say, looking up at him. He's watching me with narrowed eyes. I sigh and turn back to the page. "It's a photo of me and my Dad, while we were on the road" I tell him. His eyes soften. I look back down at the picture. I insisted Dad let me take one picture with him as we have hardly any. He reluctantly agreed. We both have big wide smiles on our faces. I've got one of his big beanies on as it was freezing and Dad's in an oversized jumper. There's a sparkle in both of our eyes. I miss him, I hope he's okay. "I'll get back to work, i'm sorry" I say.
"It's okay" he says. "It's okay to miss him. We're going to find him-" I clear my throat, ending the feelings train. I turn back to the pages I should be on.
"We should get back to it" I suggest, not wanting to dwell on the previous subject.
..
Derek's busy intimidating, I mean interrogating, the staff. I'm a 22 year old sitting around several young kids. I wanted to interrogate them but Derek said it'd be too suspicious for him, a 25 year old man, to be sitting around several young kids. He's right. That's weird. A girl runs past me with a giant slinky.
"No way" I smile. I turn and see a prizes section, my eyes zoning in on the giant slinkys. I rush over with a huge smile.
"Howdy friend" the cashier greets me.
"Hey. A giant slinky please" I say.
"That'll be 1000 tickets" he says.
"No, how much cash?"
"Oh we don't accept money, just hard-earnt tickets" he's grinning and it's pissing me off. "It's ticket Tuesday, you can win double tickets" he tells me. Is he trying to challenge me? I narrow my eyes at him.
"I'll be back" I say, walking back over to the games. I play a few but i'm not getting many tickets. I turn when I hear a kid yelling. He's telling another kid to stop cheating. The kid cheating turns to him, looking for a fight. "You heard him, knock it off" I say. The kid's eyes widen and he runs off. I smirk.
"Jackass" me and the blonde kid say at the same time. I smile down at him. His mother comes over and takes him away, sitting him down to draw and eat before leaving him again.
"Hey, your Mum's trying kid, cut her some slack" I say, walking back over to him.
"Why do you care?" he asks me.
"Because my Mum's not around anymore, i'd love it if she could bring me to places like this" I say. Second part's a complete lie. I hate this place. I want to burn it down, remember?
"Oh" he says.
"And look, she got you free food" I say, pointing to the pizza.
"It tastes like butt" he says. I chuckle.
"It can't be that bad" I say. I pick it up and take a bite. I spit it out onto the floor, the blonde boy laughing. "Oh god, that's disgusting" I cringe.
"Ashlee!" I hear Derek yell and turn to see him chasing someone.
"I gotta go kid, be nice to your Mum and eat your vegetables!" I yell over my shoulder, chasing after Derek. I yelp, dodging a clown. I see Derek tackle him to the ground. It's some long haired teenager in a lion outfit. Derek makes sure he's not our guy. He tells Derek about the spooky sounds in the basement.
"I'll take the basement, you keep an eye out" Derek says. I nod.
"Hey, i'm Cliff" the guy Derek just tackled says to me, smirking. Derek and I both turn to him with unimpressed glares. "How you doing?" he asks.
"I.." I don't even finish my sentence. "Please, deal with him first" I say to Derek, walking away. I hear the Cliff kid wolf-whistle. Then I hear Derek smack him in the back of the head and the kid shuts up. I go inside and see the girl with her giant slinky. That's right. I go over to one of the machines, playing again. Argh. This is taking too long. I look around..noone's watching. I use my knife to break where the tickets come out. I reach in and pull out a huge bundle. I walk away, whistling casually. I grin triumphantly at the stupid cashier as he hands me over my slinky. I start playing with it when I see the blonde kid and his Mum. I give him a pointed look.
"I love you Mom" he says. Her stressed face falls and she smiles softly at him.
"I love you too, let's go home" she says. I nod and smile at the kid as they pass me. Without making it obvious, I take the camaro and follow them home as Derek and I believe his Mum is next. They go inside and I get out of the car. My heart drops at what stands in front of me. A fucking clown. Red eyes, razor sharp teeth. I turn on my heel and sprint away from it. It's rickety laughter is heard behind me. I bust through a door and block him out. I relax a little but that's short lived when he bursts through. I make to run in the other direction but other clown cuts me off. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. I feel tears in my eyes as I fight them.
"If it bleeds, you can kill it" I convince myself, listening to Derek's words. I pull my gun out and shoot. Glitter fills the air, and it's still laughing. They both grab me, throwing me between them, attacking me. I don't think i've ever been so scared in my life. I get thrown into a car windshield and it smashes under me. They drag me off. I grab a crowbar and start fighting back. They're just laughing and chuckling and making stupid noises. Nothing i'm doing is working. And they're actually hurting me. I duck down, making them collide. "I swear to god Derek, if you don't save me" I say, getting up and attacking them. "I'll haunt your ass" I say, kicking one of the clowns in the nuts. They both scream and run at me. I duck my head in fear. Then there's a whoosh of air. I open my eyes and they've exploded..into glitter.
..
I pull up to where Derek's leaning againist Plucky's. I get out of the camaro and walk up to him. He faces me with an amused smile. I suprise him but hugging him tightly.
"Ash?"
"Tease me as much as you want. I hate clowns, i'm absolutely terrfied of them but I have never been so happy to see you before" I say. He brings an arm around my back. We pull back. "I think i've faced my fear though..I mean, they did just try to kill me" I shrug. Derek nods and we walk towards the camaro. "I got us something" I say with a grin. He turns to me. I reach down to where I hid it..yes, I was scared someone would steal it. I pull out the giant slinky.
"Okay, I gotta admit that's pretty cool" he smiles. I hand it over to him to play with.
"Wait, I got you something too" he says.
"Please tell me it's vodka" I say. He grins. He throws me something and I catch it. I look down at it and yelp. A clown doll. Fuck you Derek. I throw it away from me and down Plucky's carparks as far as I can. "I take it back, I hate you" I say, pointing at Derek who looks very pleased with himself. I get into the car. He chuckles and gets in too. I snatch my slinky back.
"Hey!" he objects.
"Just for that, you don't get to play with my slinky" I say.
"Come on, Ash" he sighs.
"Nope. We're going to the hotel. I get the bed and the slinky"
"That's not fair" he says.
"I was attacked by killer clowns!" I bellow. He smiles softly at me. His hand comes up to brush my hair behind my ear.
"Fine, you can have the bed" he says. He turns back to the road and takes off for the hotel. I was too scared to sleep alone because of those friggin' clowns. So my whole 'I get' speech fell through. Derek shared the bed with me and got to play with the slinky too. Dammit Derek.
..
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