I'll Know When I Get There
Summary: One phone call was all it took to rip Ryan Sloane's life apart (Parrish/OC)
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Ryan however is all mine.
Chapter 37:
Melissa hadn't seemed too surprised to see Stiles Stilinski, in fact, it had been Ryan who was more shocked than anyone. The kid was clumsy, she could give him that, but generally his visits to the hospital, at least the ones in the past, had involved some serious issues. Stiles was never one who seemed to be too concerned with things so to see him back again so soon was a shock to Ryan.
She had been helping Melissa out with him and when the kid had requested a tape player, Ryan had looked at Melissa with the most confused look. Tape players, as in cassettes, well Ryan didn't figure that kids Stiles' age even knew what cassettes were anymore, hell, she could barely remember when CDs took precedent over the old tapes.
Nonetheless Melissa had set to work on seeing if there was anyone on the floor who had a cassette player and Ryan, who was merely waiting for her shift to be over, was helping her older friend.
"My dad might have a cassette player." Ryan announced as the two of them headed in the direction of the nurses' lounge. If there would be a tape player anywhere, chances were good that the lounge would have one.
"I have one at home, it's part of my stereo system though and I'm not going all the way to the house to lug my giant stereo down here for Stiles Stilinski to listen to some tape."
"I'm just surprised that he even knows what a cassette tape is." Ryan pointed out and the two of them approached the door to the lounge. Melissa waited as Ryan opened the door, motioning for her to enter and when she did, Ryan followed her inside, heading right for her bag and ultimately her chap stick.
She produced the lip balm out of her bag, popped the cap off and ran the moisturizing chap stick over her lips. She then put the cap back on, tossed it back into her bag and dug out her cell phone. It would seem that now was the perfect time for Ryan to show Melissa the picture of Jordan playing pretty princess with Kylie.
She searched through the pictures on her phone and stopped on the exact one she was looking for before stepping over and tapping Melissa on the shoulder. The older nurse turned her attention to Ryan's phone and let out a loud laugh. She then took hold of the phone and studied the picture of the deputy wearing a tiara, a boa, and makeup.
"I love it!" Melissa remarked and looked at the picture for a few more seconds before handing it back to Ryan. "I think you should just marry the guy already, I mean, I don't know any men that are willing to do something like that, even if it is for a little girl."
"Hey now, we just started saying 'I love you'." Ryan countered but the smile on her face said it all, she was totally and completely smitten.
"I'm just saying, if he's willing to be a princess and play with Kylie, then you should lock it down."
"Maybe one day." Ryan let out a contented sigh and tucked her phone back into her bag. "He's really good with her, apparently the other night she tried to come into my room but ran into him instead, you know, after one of her nightmares. I only found out about it last night when he admitted that he told her he wasn't going to let the wolves get her."
"I'm going to assume she has nightmares about wolves." Melissa replied with a knowing smile.
"Yeah, although I have no idea why she's scared of wolves, or why they're haunting her dreams."
"Maybe she overheard someone talking about the attacks way back when we had all those wild animals running loose." Melissa suggested and motioned her head to the side, signaling for Ryan to take a seat on the couch. Melissa dropped down on the cushion and let out a huff.
"Maybe." Ryan shrugged in response and gently lowered herself down to sit next to her friend. "So I was at Derek Hale's place two nights ago."
Melissa leaned her head back on the couch but turned it so that she was facing Ryan. She didn't say a word, instead she lifted her hand up in the air and motioned for her to go on.
Ryan looked around the room and stared at the door for a few extra seconds, making sure there wasn't anyone lurking around outside. When she was pleased that there weren't any voices coming into the lounge from the hallway, she met Melissa's curious gaze.
"Scott was there."
"My Scott?" Melissa shot back and straightened up on the couch.
"Yeah, did you know that your son is a werewolf?" Ryan lowered her voice and prayed that Melissa knew. She didn't figure Scott would've kept his mom in the dark about something as big as that but it was always a possibility, after all, it was sort of a life changing secret to keep.
"Um…did I know that my son is a werewolf…well…yeah, yeah I did. Did he tell you he was a werewolf?"
"He did, and I know that Derek's one too. I was googling werewolves yesterday and I didn't really find anything that I didn't already sort of know but when I started looking into Kanimas-"
"They told you about that?" Melissa cut her off.
"Yeah, Jackson Whittemore was a lizard-like shape-shifter before he, too, joined the werewolf ranks." Ryan drawled and crossed her arms over her chest. "You were there the night of the massacre, I know you showed up after the fact, but did you know what really happened?"
Melissa sucked in a nervous breath and Ryan knew that she was going to tell her something that she might not want to hear. Melissa had been there, everyone knew that much, but how deep did her knowledge of what went on in the building go?
"That's the night I found out Scott was a werewolf." Melissa murmured and Ryan cocked her heard to the side. "I don't know what you want me to say, I guess I knew more than you did but I didn't totally understand it myself. I try to block a lot of that night out."
Ryan swallowed the lump that was forming in her throat. She had considered Melissa a friend, in all of the time that had worked together, she was the closest thing to a best friend that Ryan had. How did she feel about the woman now, knowing that Melissa knew more of what happened that night than she did?
"Did you see this Kanima?"
"I was locked in one of the cells, I didn't even know Cole was one of…I didn't know Cole was gone until after I got out of there." Melissa said softly and she prayed that Ryan wasn't going to get too upset over this new information. "Even if I understood it though, Scott swore me to secrecy. Ryan, you have to understand that if I had said something to you and word got out that my…my son is a werewolf-"
"I know." She cut her off and glanced sideways at Melissa. "Fun fact, Jordan's something weird too."
"Supernatural." Melissa supplied and Ryan tilted her head to the side in confusion. "Not weird, supernatural. Do you know what he is? Werewolf maybe?"
"No, no idea. Derek said it was far beyond his knowledge. I mean, Jordan was set on fire and he managed to survive, call me a skeptic but when he first told me that, I thought he was making it up. There's no possible way that any normal human being would be able to survive being set on fire."
"He's not normal." Melissa pointed out with a knowing smile. "He's supernatural."
Ryan nodded her understanding and considered what had gone through her head the night that Derek Hale had confessed that he was a werewolf. Part of her had screamed for her to run, to get out of there and away from the crazy people in the loft but another part of her was willing to accept his words. She had lived for too long in a state of ignorant bliss and all she had to do was refer to her mental list of 'bizarre occurrences' to realize that there was something bigger at play.
There was the night the hospital was attacked by the ominous black ninja people with the menacing silver faces, that one was certainly one for the books, and now that Ryan was thinking back to that night, she had so many unanswered questions about it. If the ninja people were supernatural too, what were they and what had been their purpose at the hospital? Had they been after something, or maybe someone?
Then there was the night where Sean Walcott was discovered on the floor of his room eating the insides of a deputy. Was he something supernatural or was he just some sort of weird cannibal.
"I always knew this town was messed up." Ryan muttered and let out a frustrated sigh.
"Maybe you should look at this knowledge as a good thing. You know supernatural creatures exist so maybe now you can better handle the situations involving them."
"Like the night the hospital was attacked by ninjas…got it."
"Not ninjas, those were called Oni and Scott's informed me that they're gone."
"For good?" Ryan turned to face her, widening her eyes at her friend.
"Yes."
"Well, what about the Walcott kid-"
"Scott told me that he was a wendigo."
"A what?"
"Wendigo. In a vague description, a cannibalistic shape shifter. The entire Walcott family were wendigoes."
"How are you so calm with all this?" Ryan asked, her voice turning shaky from nerves. Melissa was sitting next to her on the couch explaining to her all of the weird, supernatural creatures that had been at the hospital and she was speaking like it was as normal a conversation as could be.
"Honestly, I have no idea. I guess maybe it's easier to accept when weird things happen knowing what I know now."
Ryan pressed her lips together and took her words into consideration. So far, at least for her, it was a little easier trying to understand the weird things that happened in Beacon Hills but that didn't make it any less horrifying. There were supernatural creatures lurking everywhere and the thought that she didn't know how to distinguish them from normal humans was terrifying.
She stared down at her arms and thought about her newfound information. She had been a little more than frustrated not knowing exactly what was happening and now that she knew about some of the supernatural creatures, things that didn't make sense before made a little more sense.
"I freaked out when Scott told me though so, it did take some time to get used to." Melissa confessed. "It was scary, knowing that my little boy was this thing that I didn't fully understand."
"Yeah but you still love him."
"I never stopped." Melissa breathed the words out and leaned forward, making her way to her feet. Ryan followed her lead and, together, the two of them headed back out into the hallway, leaving the lounge behind them for the time being.
Melissa paused just outside the door and looked back at Ryan, who seemed to be lost in her own little world, her gaze down at her feet while a look of concentration was etched on her face. She knew it was a hard thing to accept but maybe one day Ryan would understand, maybe she'd learn more about the supernatural and maybe she'd even get to know what Jordan Parrish was.
For now though, the two of them would just have to stick to what they knew and at that moment, they knew they had to inform Stiles that there was no cassette player to be found.
XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX
The sheriff had spent most of the night talking to Meredith and Lydia, not together though, never together. Meredith had been brought in with handcuffs on, she wasn't going to be speaking to anyone other than respected authority figures. Now he was standing in his office looking over the paperwork that Jordan had filed when he had brought Meredith in. She was sitting across the room from him not saying a peep, which was precisely how the sheriff had wanted it.
Letting out a sigh, he knew that he was going to have to head out of his office to talk to the administrative assistant at the front desk about the paperwork, so without putting it off any longer, he set the papers on the top of his desk and headed for the door. As soon as he stepped outside, he noticed that Lydia Martin was sitting on the bench against the wall, her eyes were half shut and she looked totally exhausted.
Approaching her as he made as much noise as he could, without being a distraction to the rest of the people in the station, he studied her form for a few seconds and then opened his mouth to speak.
"I thought I told you to go home." He spoke to her and she jerked at the sound of his voice. If she hadn't been sleeping, he had scared her anyways.
"I thought I told you I wasn't going anywhere. Did they get anything out of her?" Lydia shot right back and looked up at him expectantly. The sheriff lowered himself down and took a seat next to her on the bench, his hands resting on his knees as he let out a sigh.
"Should have gone with the medium." He mumbled.
His eyes were pulled to the side at the sound of approaching footsteps and when Jordan Parrish appeared in his line of sight, he couldn't help but feel a little bit better about the whole situation. Jordan had gone home for a bit of a rest and maybe now that he was fresh, he'd be able to help them out with the case surrounding Meredith Walker.
The sheriff stood up first but Lydia was right there with him and the two of them turned to face Jordan head on as he closed the distance between him and them.
"We went through everything in Brunski's office, and so far everything amounts to pretty much nothing." Jordan announced, relaying the news that he had gotten from the other deputies working down at Eichen House. With a quick once over of both the sheriff and Lydia, it wouldn't have taken his superb detective skills to realize that both of them looked ready to lie down and sleep. "Did you not go home yet?"
"Not until Meredith starts talking." Lydia retorted and kept her eyes on Jordan.
"Lydia, I promise she'll talk, and when she does, I'll let you know. Trust me on this, everybody talks eventually." The sheriff spoke up and tried to reason with the girl standing next to him. There was no need for her to be there, not at that point in time. Meredith wasn't talking to any of the deputies and the sheriff had promised that if she did, Lydia would be near the top of the list of people to call.
"Then let me try." Lydia pleaded and looked at him with a hope filled expression on her face. She was clearly desperate, as they all were, but was it worth letting her in to talk to Meredith?
"No, we've already discussed this." He argued but a part of him was curious to find out if maybe the girl in his office would actually speak to Lydia.
"I've gotten through to her before. Just let me try." Lydia was still begging and at the tone of sheer desperation lacing her voice, he looked over at Jordan, who merely gave him a slight shrug in response.
Maybe his deputy was thinking exactly what he was thinking, so long as there was someone in the room with Lydia and Meredith to supervise in case things went awry, then what was the harm in trying?
The sheriff rolled his head to the side and shot out a look that said 'what do we have to lose'. Without another word between them, Jordan strode forward and headed right for his office, opening the door and waiting for both the sheriff and Lydia to get inside.
Shutting the door behind them, Jordan trailed along after the sheriff and took up a spot against the front of the sheriff's desk, leaning his bum against the edge just like the sheriff himself. The two of them got comfy and watched carefully as Lydia hesitantly took a seat next to the girl residing on the bench.
They didn't say a word, they didn't even look at each other, the two of them simply watched as Lydia got comfortable on the bench and shifted slightly closer to Meredith. When she finally spoke, her voice was soft and soothing, a far cry from the previous tones of frustration any other time the two females were together.
"I think I'm getting an idea of how all this happened. You used Brunski, right? You knew he'd killed people, and that he would do it again." Lydia was pacing, at this point she dropped down to sit down next to Meredith, looking the girl in her wide eyes. "He used my grandmother's code for the dead pool, he put it online, he took the money from the Hale Vault, then turned the bearer bonds into cash. He made the payments. Was it Brunski's idea to fake your death? Did he get nervous because you helped us with one of the cipher keys?"
"I wanted to help." Meredith nodded.
"All you ever wanted to do was help." Lydia paused and Meredith gave another small nod of her head. "Is that why you're here? I know you wouldn't want to be here if you didn't want to talk."
"I do." Meredith replied and looked away from Lydia, peering straight ahead. "But only to one person."
"Who?" Lydia questioned.
"Peter." Meredith answered and Jordan glanced to the sheriff, who was looking right back at him. When he turned towards the girls, Lydia was also throwing them a knowing look. "Peter Hale."
The sheriff shot another look in Jordan's direction and without him having to ask, Jordan knew what he wanted. He wanted him to contact Peter Hale and see if he'd come down to the station and Jordan wasn't about to turn down his boss. He'd do whatever he could to help out the sheriff and if that meant trying to make contact with the infamous Peter Hale, then that's what he'd do.
"I'm on it." Jordan rolled his shoulders back and fought off the urge to sigh. It seemed like a menial task but he knew that if he could get Peter Hale down to the station, the whole dead pool case could potentially be blown wide open.
It was the least he could, right?
Taking off and leaving the sheriff in his office with the two girls, Jordan set his sights on his own desk, where he'd hopefully make quick work of getting in contact with Peter Hale. When he sat down at his desk, he turned on his computer and waited for it to start up, all the while he was waiting, he debated calling Ryan and talking to her. He could maybe convince himself that he was calling her in the hopes that she'd be able to help him track down Peter Hale, after all, she knew Derek Hale rather well and the two of them were related. Maybe calling Ryan wasn't a bad idea after all.
When his computer made a chiming noise, signaling that it was ready for him to log on to, he shook his head and pushed the idea of calling her to the back of his mind. He needed to try and focus on letting Ryan live her life without having him constantly calling her. If he was going to focus on his job, if he was going to do the best he possibly could, he was going to have to learn to leave her alone, at least until the going got tough, or there was a potential threat that would affect her.
Ryan didn't need to know how much he worried about her, not until he was at home after his shift. If she knew that he was constantly concerned about her, it might freak her out more and he knew that she didn't need to be any more scared that she already was. She had been through enough and she had come out on top, she was stronger than anyone else he knew. Breaking Ryan wouldn't be easy but if he kept pushing her and pushing her, he figured it wouldn't take as much effort.
Pushing the idea of calling her to the back of his mind, he punched in Peter Hale's name and brought up the man's file. His eyes scanned over the picture of him as well as the information held in the file, it wasn't until Jordan's eyes landed on a section titled 'contact information' that a smile broke out on his face.
Would it be that easy? Would he get a phone number, or even an address, from his deputy files and simply call the man up, or pay him a visit, requesting that he come in and answer some questions?
Picking up his phone and dialing the number written on the man's file, he waited for it start ringing, but after a few seconds of nothing but dead air, he quickly realized that it wasn't going to be that easy, not at all, and he lowered the phone back down to the cradle.
With his next attempt at locating the man in question, Jordan pulled up the mapping program on his computer and typed in the address listed on his file. When the results came back to the burnt down Hale house, Jordan growled in frustration. There was one more address to try and when he typed it into the program, it shot him back the information regarding the long term care home, which the man was no longer in, Jordan knew that much for sure.
Calling Ryan came back to the forefront of his mind but now he was trying to think of a way around it. He wanted to call Ryan and get Derek Hale's contact information, but he could skip a step altogether and look up Derek's information on his computer.
Doing just that, he brought up the man's file and picked his phone back up, dialing the number under the contact information. He waited for it to ring and when the familiar noise sounded out in his ear, he smiled. This was definitely a better sign than the dead air he had gotten when he had dialed the number listed on Peter's file.
"Hello?" Derek's voice was gruff and Jordan felt a split second of fear, wondering if maybe he had interrupted the man while he was doing something important. Well it was too late to turn back now.
"It's Deputy Jordan Parrish, I'm actually looking to get a hold of your uncle, Peter Hale."
"What'd he do this time?" Derek asked with a slight growl and Jordan let out a sigh.
"We just want to talk to him, ask him a few questions."
Derek fell silent on the other end of the line but Jordan waited patiently, hoping that he would help him. After nearly thirty seconds of silence, Derek let out a sigh of his own and began speaking again.
"Let me talk to him for you, I'll see what I can do, but don't count on anything."
"That's, yeah, that's fine."
"And I can reach you at this number if I run into any problems?" Derek pressed and Jordan found himself nodding before realizing that Derek couldn't actually see him.
"Yes, yes this number is good. You can tell him that he's not in any trouble, we just have some questions we'd like to ask him pertaining to an ongoing investigation."
"Sure." Derek snipped and Jordan swore he heard him suck in a breath. "Hey, you and Ryan Sloane, you two are pretty close right?"
"We are." Jordan replied, skepticism lacing his tone.
"Can you just tell her that if she…if she has any questions, she can call me, I'll be more than willing to try and help her out."
"Is this about the other night?"
"It's about a night that happened a long time ago."
"Right, I'll pass that along to her. Thanks for your cooperation."
"Yeah, if you have any questions of your own-"
"I'll give you a call."
Jordan listened for a few seconds longer and when the line went dead, he set the phone back on the cradle before leaning back in his chair. Derek was going to do his best to get his uncle to the station, aside from sending out a team to look for the man in question, all Jordan could really do was sit and wait with the hopes that Derek Hale would come through.
XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX
For all of you fans of my Peter/OC series, I just posted a special Christmas story that you should definitely check out.
Melissa and Ryan having a little chat, aren't they such fun little friends? How are you guys liking the story?
Thank you again to my ever appreciated reviewers A and poorxbrokexcollegexkid, and sarahmichellegellarfan1!
sarahmichellegellarfan1: I hope that you liked the latest installment, I can tell you that there's definitely more of the three of them in future chapters
poorxbrokexcollegexkid: Poor Kylie indeed! She's got her mom and Jordan though, she'll be okay
A: I think they make a cute family unit too :) thanks so much for the review and you're right, I totally neglected to consider that there was a shower at the station, makes sense to me.