Mucho drama-ito en este capitulo! Translation: lots of drama in this chapter (except I don't think that's actually how you would say drama in Spanish…) Anyway, something big will happen (unless your life is just so intense that this you would consider normal).
"Is she going to be ok?" Simon peered into the room.
"What are you doing here?" Derek looked up from his perch by Chloe's hospital bed to glare at them.
Simon stepped into the room and pulled up another folding chair next to Chloe's bed, Aliena and Tori following suit. "We wanted to make sure she was ok. So?"
Derek sighed, not totally surprised. "Yeah, the doctors say she'll be alright."
Simon let out a relieved breath. "Whew. Thank God."
"Did she wake up at all?" Tori asked, voice hushed to half its regular volume. Something about hospitals always seemed stifling, making whispers seem more appropriate than normal voices. Like a more gloomy and sinister library.
"Not yet, but the docs said that's a good thing. Gives her immune system a chance to recuperate. We were almost too late." Derek studied her face sorrowfully.
"But we weren't." Aliena reminded him.
"Yeah. They gave her all the meds to clear the infection. Now all she needs is rest."
"So we'll just hang here for a while," Simon lounged back in his chair.
"You should leave." Derek suggested, not taking his eyes off Chloe. "I had to write a bunch of personal stuff on her medical form. It's only a matter of time until the Edison Group hears we're here."
"Then we'll just wait until then." The settled into a tense and yet still relieved silence until Aliena stood up and announced she was going to the vending machine.
"Want someone to go with you?" Tori offered, being unusually nice.
"Nah. I'll be fine. You guys want anything?"
Simon ordered some pretzels if they had any and Tori asked for M&Ms. Derek said he wasn't hungry. She left, leaving just Tori, Simon, and Derek to wait for Chloe's awakening.
"How's she doing?" came a quiet voice from the doorway several minutes later. All three of them whirled around to see a tall Asian man, dressed in jeans and a scuffed jacket lounging against the door frame. His face was creased with permanent worry lines, but now he was smiling.
"Dad!" Simon bolted forward to fling his arms around Kit's neck, not caring that he was acting like a little kid.
"Hey son," Kit murmured in his ear as they clung to each other. After a moment Simon released him, stepping back to give Derek his turn.
"Derek!" His face lit up. "How is my favorite werewolf?" Derek rumbled a reply but something about the question bothered Simon. There had been the slightest emphasis on 'my', as if Kit was establishing possessiveness over Derek. Quickly he shook that thought away, thinking wryly to himself I'm beginning to sound as suspicious as Derek.
"Oh, it's so good to see you boys!" Kit said when Derek withdrew. Simon tore his eyes away from rememorizing his dad's face to glance at Tori. She was still sitting in the chair but her whole body had gone rigid and she was staring hard at the floor. He couldn't be sure if she was even aware of the silent tears leaking down her face. Poor Tori, he thought, it must be hard for her to see us with our dad after her dad betrayed her. He turned back to his father.
"…yeah, they want to keep her overnight," Derek was saying, "but we were thinking of taking off as soon as it gets dark out." Kit was nodding and looking thoughtful. "After all, the longer we stay here the greater the chance of the Edison Group finding us." For a moment Simon thought he saw an unreadable expression flit across his father's face, but as soon as it had come, it vanished again. He wasn't even sure if Derek saw it.
But Derek must've had some suspicion because he proceeded to ask, "By the way, how did you find us?"
"My tracking spell," Kit replied with a shrug. "Thank God it finally worked. But anyway, I have a better idea. Why don't you three all come stay with me at my safe house tonight."
"Chloe would stay here?" Derek's prior happiness was punctured with skepticism.
"Well, yes. You would want her to get better, right?"
"The doctors said she'll be fine. They've already given her the injections. Now she just has to sleep it off." Simon couldn't fathom why Derek's voice had turned so icy.
"Fine, she can come too." Kit snapped, exasperated. This was weird. His dad never talked to them like that. Suddenly all those ecstatic and relieved emotions he had felt mere moments ago deflated like a balloon. "Let's just go."
Derek hesitated then shook his head. "No. We're sticking with the original plan." The two faced off, standing with mirrored tense postures, glowering at each other. It was like something out of a bad western movie. All that was missing were the guns…
As if in reaction to Simon's thought, he saw his dad's hand twitch towards the inside of his jacket. Derek, seeing what was happening, started to lunge forward but was brought up short by the muzzle in his face.
"All right," Kit didn't look at all regretful, just grimly determined as if being forced to do some unpleasant but necessary task . "We're all going to go back to my house," he ordered calmly, keeping the gun trained on the statue Derek. "All of you," he looked for the first time directly at Tori who was lifting her head, eyes wide with a deer-in-the-headlights expression. Simon himself felt like a deer in the headlights. There was a strange ringing in his ears and he felt like he was about to puke up his peanut butter sandwich. He couldn't believe it. His dad had pulled a gun on them. He had betrayed them.
"You're with the Edison Group now, aren't you?" Derek braved speaking after a tense moment of silence. Kit nodded curtly. "Why?" Derek's face had that cool and calculating look of detachment it always got when he was concentrating really hard.
"I know you won't believe this but I'm actually doing this for your own benefit. You don't understand the full capabilities of the Edison Group; you don't know what they can do to you-"
"Experiment on us?" Derek interrupted sarcastically.
Kit sighed. "You're right. They can experiment on you. But they can also kill you, and you know which option I'd prefer."
"Enlighten us." Derek snapped. "Because with a gun pointed at my face it's kind of hard to tell."
"Just come with me and I won't have to use it." It didn't look like they'd have much of a choice. Suddenly, the gun whirled away from Derek to point to Tori, spinning back to Derek before he could take advantage of the moment. "No casting please, Tori. Come on. We're leaving."
"Wait!" Derek was stalling, though for what help Simon didn't know. The longer they waited the greater the chance of the rest of the Edison Group showing up. He could only hope Aliena wouldn't be found too. "You still haven't told us why you're doing this."
"Because I'm trying to protect you. 'If you can't beat 'em, join 'em,'" he quoted. "And you sure as hell can't beat them." he finished the sentence with a barked laugh.
"Well then-" Whatever Derek had been about to say was lost as Kit pitched forward, falling on his face and dropping the gun. Behind me, pale and trembling with her arms raised palms out, was Aliena.
"Nice knock-back," Tori congratulated. "Now let's go."
Gaspers! Kit=evil. Yep, it's now official. Sorry to any Kit-lovers, but he really is trying to do what he thinks is best- he is just sadly mistaken. I know this chapter was a little rushed (what with Kit randomly appearing out of the blue) but I knew what I imagined happening and just wrote it down. Hopefully it still seems at least partially realistic. Let me know what you think! Any predictions?