Izzy found herself being walked to her car by both Toni and Jughead after her shift, they weren't even trying to hide the fact that they were playing bodyguard.
"I've been thinking, we need more people, we need to do everything in pairs, no one can go off on their own. If we want to figure out who Shady man is and what he wants and who the shooter was, this needs more than the three of us" Izzy found herself saying, she hadn't been thinking that but it was a good idea.
"You know who else would be a good person to add?" Jughead asked rhetorically as he pulled on his own jacket to try and ward off the cold. "Betty, she was the driving force in figuring out who killed Jason and I am sure if we include her we can find everything we need to know about Shady man and the shooter"
"Fine, you can ask her but we have to be prepared that Toni and I may end up having to follow Shady man by ourselves," Izzy warned. "I will see if I can think of anyone else crazy enough to want to do this with us."
The person Izzy could think of was Cheryl, but she was a no go for obvious reasons.
"Well if that's all for tonight I'm going to go back to the Southside to see what the Serpents are up to tonight with Tall Boy," Toni said ready to leave. "Nice meeting you Izzy, see you both tomorrow."
Izzy was just going to blame the fact that she was focused on Shady man and Cheryl's… that to remember the other thing Cheryl had said that afternoon, she probably would have still forgotten if it wasn't for Toni mentioning the serpents.
"By the way, Cheryl has gotten your dad a new lawyer and she talked to the judge so hopefully FP can come home before Christmas," Izzy said breaking the news grinning by the end at the look of shock on Jug and Toni's faces
"What really?!" Jughead and Toni both exclaimed in amazement.
"Yeah, it's her way…." Izzy trailed off she didn't know how to finish that sentence. "She just wanted to see if she could get him home for Christmas."
"That's amazing, thank her for me" Jughead smiled pulling Izzy into a hug.
"See, you wear a jacket like that looking all badass and I can actually see why Betty is going out with you." Izzy teased smiling at the fact that Jug was blushing.
x.x.x.x
Jug found himself standing in the trailer looking at the developed picture of 'Shady man' stuck on the wall of his kitchen while eating the Caesar salad he grabbed from Pops.
Who was this man? Why was he interested in Izzy? What was he doing here in Riverdale apart from coming to the diner on a near-daily basis?
Where did he come from and how did Jughead find out the answers to all these questions.
This guy was definitely more dangerous than the shooter, he had a single goal… Izzy.
Izzy held his attention and none of them knew why, the shooter was just targeting people at random, he wasn't after her specifically just after 'sinner'.
His first thought for getting Betty involved was so he could sideline Izzy, except if he tried doing that not only would Izzy kill him she would probably go looking for Shady man by herself and that couldn't happen.
With people being shot and strangled on a weekly basis…. It just wasn't going to happen….. he needed Betty to get involved but more importantly he needed Izzy to be safe.
The problem was Izzy could be reckless and wouldn't think twice about following Shady man herself and they couldn't go to Sheriff Keller, not yet Shady man hasn't technically anything wrong but that didn't mean he didn't pose a threat.
x.x.x.x
Betty was disturbed from helping Polly settle back into her old room because Jughead was calling her, she was just so happy that Polly came home to have the twins, her belly had grown several sizes since in just a few weeks so the Cooper clan were planning on going shopping this week for cots, changing table, strollers not to mention changing the home office into the twins room.
"Hi" Betty whispered walking past her mother and back into her room. "How was your day?"
"Good, I don't want to keep you long but I was wondering if you wanted to help find this shooter and there is a new guy as well we need to find first. " Jug asked. "I mean we found who shot Jason and Izzy and I are trying to figure out who shot Fred and seeing how good we were at solving mysteries before I thought you might be interested in helping."
"I would love to help but Polly just came home today," Betty stated as a way of gently letting him down. "Why don't you and Izzy investigate yourself for a few weeks, I can help later on if you need me to it's just-"
"You want to spend time with Polly and the twins not running around trying to find a shooter." Jughead finished completely understanding, Betty had spent the past few months trying to find who shot Jason to clear Polly's name just to have Polly to leave town and now that she was back Betty obviously wanted to spend some time with her sister.
"It's okay, I just thought I should ask, so we could spend some time together. I'll see how far we can solve this case but don't be surprised if I use you as a sounding board if we get stuck. Say hi to Polly for me"
"Yeah of course. How about we meet up for breakfast tomorrow." Betty suggested if Jug had to spend the day at school and nights working at Pops it left only his morning free for them to see each other.
"Sure breakfast at Pops. Night Betty" Jughead muttered out before ending the call, hopefully, he didn't sound too disappointed, he didn't want Betty to feel guilty about being there for Polly, if Betty was saying no how was he going to pair up with Izzy and keep her safe?
Sighing Jug looked around the trailer feeling slightly displaced, probably because he was standing in the trailer with no one else to talk to, and no other ideas on finding out who Shady man could be apart from having Izzy being involved.
Maybe he should go to the Wyrm and see what the other serpents were up to, if nothing else there he could ask Tall Boy for his help, plus everyone was bound to be a celebrating once news spread of his dad's new lawyer and the possibility of an early release, sending a quick text to Izzy that Betty was out Jughead hopped on his bike.
x.x.x.x
"Take a seat Andre and tell me everything that happened to night" Hiram ordered.
"To start off with… Isabelle is, …. I followed her from school like normal, she made her way to the diner for her shift today instead so I drove back here, left the car downstairs and walked back, ordered my burger and fries from this new kid but she was the one that brought it over, I don't know how Boss but she started asking me question like if I wanted salt and pepper and the next thing I know she is telling me to have some muffin and bringing me coffee instead of tea."
"How, what did you do?" Hiram growled he had waited sixteen years to get to know his child, he had planned for it, he had thought about her every day, everything was coming together, if Andre had ruined this for him there will be nowhere on earth this man could hide.
"Nothing boss, I swear… she, she just knew." Andre stammered out, he's seen that look on the Boss's face more time than he could count and each time the person didn't exactly survive."I… I was thinking about it on the way over and before she even left the first time she had me pegged, I just wanted the burger and she brought over mustard and coffee and muffins, it was … I did nothing boss, she just knew, I swear as your Capo… I"
"Anything else? What happened Andre?" Hiram was 'this' close to strangling the man himself.
"I went to pay the bill like normal you see… and… and she was there, said the total came up to sixty dollars"
Hiram sat still trying to understand, "The total of what?" He wanted Andre to say it, he wanted to hear the entire stupidity of the situation from Andre's own mouth.
"The food, it was only twenty, the other lady… Daisy said so but like I said Izzy, Isabelle she knew. Boss she already knew she was asking for sixty instead, she was testing me you see, see if I was good enough so I gave her a hundred"
"You gave her a hundred dollars?" Hiram asked, Andre didn't know this but he should be very grateful that the gun was in a locked safe instead of his desk drawer.
"Boss I am telling you, it's what she wanted, it was a test"
"So you decided to give her a hundred dollars for something you know isn't even worth more than twenty."
"I… I, you see she… she wanted to, see what I would do, I thought…"
"If she was testing you and you failed Andre" Hiram fumed. "The plan was to be invisible, report back, not to stand out."
"But boss…Boss, she had the other kid and someone else try to follow me, I cannot be certain but it wasn't their usual break time. They didn't see me but she's definitely curious" Andre reluctantly admitted, Hiram would find out the truth one way or the other so it was best if it came from him here and now.
"Stay away from her, if I am lucky she will chalk the whole thing down to an idiotic man who can get easily swindled. You are to follow her from a distance from now on, she is not to see a single piece of you, do I make myself clear?"
x.x
"How are you, Andre?" Hermione intercepted as he made his way out of the Hiram office, she was only in the living room to wait for Veronica to come home, she knew Veronica liked testing the limits but Hermione may need to have a word with her soon.
"Good thank you, Mrs. Lodge."
"How is your assignment going?" Hiram wouldn't tell her anything about his plans with Izzy, all his other plans were fair game, he shared as much as he wanted to, but when it came to Izzy she knew nothing, there were the obvious signs like the contractors and decorators coming in and out during the day while Veronica was at school but after that Hermione was in the dark.
"So far so good Ma'am" Andre replied offering her a small smile.
"Anything else, I should know about?" Hermione tried fishing for any information.
"You should ask the boss about that."
"Wait for Andre a mintue just want to know if-"
"You should really talk to the boss," Andre repeated before quickly leaving. There was no way he was going to mess up twice in one night,( Andre enjoyed being alive) if the boss wanted his wife to know anything he would tell her himself.
Hermione may be the boss's wife but even he could see that Boss cared more about Isabelle and Veronica than he did her, guess it was only natural to love your children more.
x.x
Hermione walked into the study to see her husband re-reading the portfolio of Izzy once again, he was a man obsessed with his plans and none of the subtle hints she had given had been acknowledging, so it was time to try the more direct approach. "You are playing a dangerous game Hiram"
"Evening Hermione, I am unsure what you are talking about but if it is my plans regarding Isabelle I can assure you that I know it is not game, there is too much at stake," Hiram replied, his eyes still drawn to the newspaper clipping Alice Cooper had written a couple of years ago about Isabelle
"The love (and fear) of a Granddaughter" as much as Hiram disliked Alice he would admit that she was a semi-good journalist when she put her mind to it.
"Oh I know it isn't a game" Hermione replied sombrely while crossing her arms "but what do you call the way you are behaving. How would you think Izzy will take it when she finds out."
"How exactly am I behaving?" Hiram questioned his wife finally looking up. "The way I see it I am looking out for her, I have the decorators preparing her room, I haven't done anything but prepare to get to know my daughter so what is it exactly that you think I am doing?"
"You know what you are doing." Hermione accused without having to say the actual words
"Let's be clear here, you knew my plans since the beginning, you knew I always planned on getting to know Isabelle. I warned you before but let me repeat myself mi amor" Hiram stated standing up moving to stand in front of Hermione making sure his wife got the message. "I plan on getting to know my daughter. Now take a seat, we need to talk about the daughter you should actually have to worry about." Hiram ordered going back to his chair.
"Veronica is-"
"Veronica needs to get in line my love, the staying out late coming back just in time to sleep, the disrespect, it all needs to stop. I admit, the letter I wrote her was shocking but this issue should have been sorted out by now."
"Are you really concerned about Veronica or is this all about Izzy." Hermione wasn't foolish enough to think that this wasn't in some way to do with Izzy, one way or the other all of Hiram's action and thought leads to Izzy.
"I am talking about Veronica and her behaviour, (I can separate the two girls) I will not have one daughter here just to lose control of the other," Hiram warned levelling a glare at Hermione because he was trying, he went out of his way to ask Veronica about her day, he tried to have breakfast with her every morning, he'd also taken to offering to help her with any school work she had but each and every single time Veronica rebuffed him and walked away and the few times she said something Hermione was quick to defend Veronica or brush the incident under the rug, it was getting tiring.
"Then I beg you to reconsider, if you think Veronica is acting out now what do you think will happen when you tell her about Izzy, not to mention the fact that you have the decorators coming in setting up a room for her. Just wait Hiram, sort out your relationship with Veronica first then think about what you want to do when it comes to Izzy" Hermione advised hoping to get through to him if the blatant statements weren't enough maybe reminding him that he could lose Veronica would make the man re-think his approach.
"Unfortunately for us, time is not on our side, Andre messed up tonight. Izzy is aware of him, she will find out soon and it's better for her to find out from me." Hiram confessed. "And as such, Veronica's little tantrum and disrespect have to be cut short, normally I love her little display of rebellion but now isn't the time for it."
"I thought you said this was about Veronica and not Izzy"
"It's about both. It's about my family and having all of us under the same roof, living together and being happy. Now please have a word with Veronica about her behaviour before I am forced to."
"You are willing to ruin your relationship with Veronica on the off chance that Izzy will be willing to get to know you. You are a stranger to her, worse you are the man who's abandoned her for sixteen years, what makes you think she will want to get to know you?"
Unfortunately, Hermione was right he was a stranger to her but that's why he was doing this, he didn't want to be a stranger to his own daughter, he walked away to protect her and Sharon, knowing he would one day get a chance to make it up to them, to explain, this was that chance. He'd been back for over three weeks now, he just needed another week or two for the rest of his plans to fall into place he could-
"Hiram, Hiram?" Hermione called out pulling him out of his thoughts.
"Don't worry about Isabelle and concentrate on Veronica as I've asked, I want both my girls to be happy and for Veronica that starts with her having to accept what happened and getting over it, feel free to buy something off Tiffany's website as a way to mend the bridges." Hiram finished effectively dismissing Hermione.
"One more thing my love" Hiram waited to call out just as Hermione opened the study door "The next time you feel insecure about my plans find a way to get through it without disturbing me."
Isabelle Amelia Tate wasn't a stranger she was his daughter, she was the proof that he was once a good man, that he was capable of unconditionally love.
Writer's thoughts:
Okay so what do you guys think? A look inside Hermione and Hiram's relationship, they are not exactly equal even on the show but this was a very interesting thing to write.
Hermione knew of Hiram's plans from the beginning but is getting cold feet now that he is acting on his plans of getting to know Izzy. Also, is Hiram putting a little to much pressure on dreams, he isn't listening to reasoning and wants to know Izzy no matter what.
All comments and reviews are appreciated.