Isaac wasn't sure if Allison would show up on Saturday. She hadn't even wanted to see Scott and that was saying something, but Isaac got that she had quite some stuff to work through. He hadn't intended to but he had opened up some old wounds.

So on Saturday, Isaac packed his tripod and other stuff he would need and drove over to pick up Danny.

"Did you hear from Allison or Lydia?" Isaac asked when they were on their way to the park. One would assume that at this time of the day the streets were mostly empty but it looked as if they were right on time for the first partygoers of the night.

"Just what they wrote in the group," Danny answered. "Haven't seen either of them the last few days."

Which wasn't unusual, they didn't have classes together and if it weren't for Scott, Isaac wouldn't see Allison around much either. Which he hadn't since they had tried out the tripod.

"They didn't cancel, did they?" Danny asked.

"Afraid you have to spend the night with me alone?" Isaac joked.

"You're not my type," Danny replied easily. "By the way, did Professor Hale answer our questions?"

"Didn't come around to ask him, sorry." Isaac ducked his head, for once glad that he had to stay focused on the traffic.

"We messaged a bit online," Danny said and thankfully did not ask why Isaac hadn't brought up their list when he'd seen the professor. "He gave me some pointers for tonight. I think he rarely has the chance to talk about all this."

Isaac had gotten the same impression. The professor didn't seem lonely but his husband wasn't into astronomy it looked like. Isaac still couldn't wrap his head around the fact that Professor Stilinski was said husband and he didn't even want to think about the whole having sex with Peter Hale thing but as far as he could tell, Professor Hale was content with his life. He just didn't have somebody in his life who shared his interest in the stars.

Isaac parked the car but Allison's car was not there yet.

"Let's set up camp first," Danny suggested and thrust a bag into Isaac's arms.

It was a struggle to carry everything down the familiar path deeper into the park and Isaac would have liked to have another pair of hands around but they managed.

"Why do we have so much stuff?" Isaac groaned and dumped the bag with what he hoped were snacks and not expensive equipment on the ground with an audible thud.

By now Isaac was convinced that Allison would not show up but then his phone buzzed with the message that she and Lydia were almost at the park.

Danny agreed to meet them at the entrance so that they didn't have to stumble alone through the dark, trying to find them. So far nobody had bothered them when they came out here but this was a public park with other people around. At this time of the day mainly people one would not want to meet. Especially as a young woman.

Isaac had the telescope and the tripod up and ready to go when the others joined him. The girls greeted him with hugs. Allison's was a bit tighter and lasted just a bit longer, nothing obvious but it was enough to assure him that things between them were okay.

"So." Lydia had a look around. "This is what you've been doing out here?"

The first minutes were a bit awkward, Isaac felt as if Lydia was here to judge what they were doing and he was painfully aware of the fact that this was far from professional.

However, that feeling went away quickly and five minutes later Lydia was looking through the telescope, trying to find Jupiter. Danny was pointing her in the right direction which left Isaac and Allison sitting on the blanket, watching them. Lydia had brought self-made cookies, of course she had, so they were nibbling on those while they listened to Danny's explanations.

"You okay?" Isaac asked in a low voice. Danny and Lydia were absorbed in their own world, chances were good that they had completely forgotten that he and Allison were there as well.

"It's been a rough few days but I'm okay," Allison answered in an equally low voice, her eyes on the backs of the others.

"I'm sorry." In the dark Isaac searched for her hand and gave it an assuring squeeze.

"I'm not mad." Allison squeezed back. "It's just ..."

"Yeah."

This was neither the time nor the place to go into this. Lydia was Allison's best friend but Isaac doubted that she knew about Allison's aunt and what she'd done to Professor Hale and his family and Isaac did not want to be the one to change that. Besides, Danny was here as well.

So they talked about the stars and when Lydia waved her over to have a look herself, Allison scooted over to find out what the fuss was all about.

Isaac didn't get much time at the telescope that night even when Allison and Lydia retreated to the corner of the blanket after a while. They were talking quietly to themselves while they were sipping coffee and it looked as if they were happy but Isaac doubted that they would join them again out here. Maybe Lydia, though, but Allison not so much. She was more interested in the pictures they were taking and she had done some research about that and it was clear that Isaac's setup was subpar at best.

The idea of taking a weekend off and spending the night out in the middle of nowhere came up again. The girls were on board with that and Allison was even confident that she could drag Scott along.

"We should ask the professor where he does his star-gazing," Danny spoke up, his eye firmly pressed against the telescope. "He mentioned that he leaves New York regularly for a night. His spot can't be that far out."

"I'm not sure if we should take over his spot." Isaac threw a glance at Allison but she seemed fine with the mention of the professor.

"At least he can give us some pointers." Looking through the telescope Danny had missed the interaction between Isaac and Allison. "I bet we could convince him to make it an official field trip. We might get credit for it."

"I'm not sure if that's a good idea," Isaac said while next to him Allison shifted uncomfortably into another position. The whole thing was lost on Danny but Lydia was sitting right next to Allison.

"Hey, you okay?" She slung an arm around her shoulders and drew her close.

"Just a bit chilly," Allison assured her.

Even in the dim light, Isaac could tell that Lydia wasn't buying it but she didn't say anything about it and just draped her jacket over Allison's shoulders before she hugged her close again.

Allison and Lydia left around midnight but Isaac and Danny stayed until three in the morning. In the end, Isaac did get to see some interesting stuff and he took quite some nice pictures.

Since Allison had been out with them, Scott was sleeping in his bed for once. Isaac tried to get ready for bed as quietly as possible but Scott still lifted his head with a groan.

"The fuck, man?" He drowsily blinked at him but when Isaac turned off the lights he turned to his other side and a second later he was fast asleep again.

In the morning Scott returned the favor when he got up for work. Isaac wished that he could go back to sleep that easily too, it had been a short night and it was way too early, but by the time Scott left for work, Isaac was wide awake.

He could go for some coffee but for one the bed was too comfy and second, Isaac dreaded running into Professor Stilinski again. Or worse, into Peter Hale. That guy was scary. Isaac got the appeal, the dangerous stranger, but he did not want to run into him. Especially since he most likely knew by now that Isaac knew that he was banging his nephew's husband.

With a groan, Isaac drew the blanket over his head. It was Sunday morning, he had no particular plans for the day, he would not ruin that by thinking about Peter Hale having sex with Professor Stilinski.

Without coming up from under the blanket, Isaac searched for his phone. That should give him enough distraction.

He stayed in bed until noon and he would have been content with staying there all day but his gnarling stomach got him moving.

Since he'd skipped breakfast Isaac treated himself to lunch with apple pie for dessert. There were no familiar faces around and Isaac dared to draw out his lunch before he packed up and went over to the library. He had some catching up to do.

He sent Allison a message, asking if she wanted to have a look at the pictures he'd taken last night, but she was busy at the archery range. Isaac wasn't sure if that wasn't an excuse to not see him but he decided to not read too much into it.

It would have been a nice distraction but this way he had no excuse to not sit his butt down and get some work done.

He was still in the library when Scott called. Isaac jumped at the sudden noise but then he hurried to answer the call before he got too many disapproving looks.

"Scott?" He asked in a hushed voice. "What happened?"

They never called each other, nobody did. WhatsApp was the way to go. A call meant an emergency. With Scott working at a vet clinic Isaac was instantly picturing him with half his face bitten off by a rabid dog.

"Can you pick me up?" Scott asked. "My bike broke down."

"Were you driving?" Isaac asked, already packing up his stuff with his free hand. Scott did not sound as if he'd been in an accident but one never knew. Shock did some strange things to people.

"What?" Scott sounded confused. "It broke down, it's not driving anywhere."

"So you're still at the clinic?" Isaac asked just to make sure.

"Where else would I be?"

It showed that Scott had never dreaded one of those calls in the middle of the night, bless his innocent heart, but Isaac couldn't help it, his mind just jumped to the worst-case scenario.

"Can you pick me up?"

"On my way."

On his way to the clinic, Isaac did wonder why Scott had called him and not Allison, though. It could just be that she had plans and Scott knew that Isaac was free but he couldn't help but wonder.

When Isaac arrived at the clinic, the parking lot was empty except for another car. No Scott or his bike in sight. Scott was probably waiting inside for him but when Isaac entered the vet clinic, the lobby was empty and the gateway leading deeper into the building was closed off. For good measure, there was a sign stating that indeed the clinic was closed.

"Hello?" Isaac asked. Noises were coming from the back area but it took a long moment and another "Hello, anybody there?" before the vet emerged from the back.

"We're closed," the man said in a stern voice. Isaac had never met him but he assumed that this was Deaton, Scott's boss.

"Ehm." Isaac cleared his throat, the guy had something unnerving. "I'm here to pick up Scott?"

"He left half an hour ago," Deaton said, and apparently with that the conversation was over for him. He just stood there, waiting for Isaac to leave.

"He called me," Isaac hurried to say. "His bike broke down."

"He usually parks behind the building, you should find him there," Deaton said in a tone that made it clear that he wanted Isaac out of his clinic. The man wanted to get home, Isaac got that, but he had expected a little more concern about his employee.

"Oh, okay. Thanks." Isaac gave him an awkward wave and turned to leave when the door behind Deaton opened and Peter Hale poked his head out.

"Doc, we need you here," Peter said but then his eyes fell on Isaac. "What the fuck are you doing here?"