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Lacy here! And we actually have a bit of happy in this chapter, you'll see. No, of course I'm not going to tell you. We also have another cliff hanger. This season has a lot of them and it sucks monkeys. And can we not pick on Isaac? Seriously? He's a puppy. Jerks. Read on!
Disclaimer: I own Effie.
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~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~
Effie ran behind Derek and Scott as they charged out of the hospital, already hearing the commotion caused by the live wire that had fallen from the roof.
A sharp pain ran through Effie's head, causing her to cry out. "Isaac!" she waved off Derek and Scott's concern. "Keep going!"
The trio got outside and found a hydrant had broken and electrically charged water was flowing all over the parking lot. Derek barely stopped them before they ran head long into the water. Looking around, hoping to find something to help, Effie saw Isaac face down in the water, not moving. She went to run to him but Derek grabbed her arm and drew her attention to Kira, who was standing in the water, one hand holding the live wire while the other came up and covered the sparking end.
They watched in shock as the electricity slowly died down and, when Kira opened her eyes, her irises had turned orange, like her fox aura.
Once she dropped the, now dead, wire, Effie remembered her pup and took off for Isaac, Derek on her heels. She dropped to her knees beside Isaac, grabbing his arm and rolling him so she could see his face.
"Isaac," she called to him. "Isaac!"
Derek felt for his pulse, then his breath. "He's not breathing." the older man turned towards their alpha. "Scott! He's not breathing!"
Effie shook Isaac. "Wake up. Isaac, this isn't funny. Wake up!"
Derek pulled Effie back as the nurses and doctors came over. "Let them work, Ef."
"Not Isaac, Derek." Effie whispered. "Not Isaac, please."
Derek held Effie close. "He'll heal, Ef. He'll heal." He wasn't sure who he was trying to reassure. Himself or Effie.
~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~
Two days. Not a word from Stiles, who had left the hospital while all the commotion was happening, and Isaac wasn't healing or waking up. Effie had painted several partial paintings, all with pieces of Stiles's face, but none showing exactly where he was or what he was doing. But with each painting, the dark aura around him got larger and larger.
Derek had all but become a permanent fixture in the Stilinski house, not wanting to leave Effie and knowing John wasn't stable enough to take care of his daughter. John was grateful for the help, not even complaining when Derek closed Effie's door at night so her father's late night pacing wouldn't disturb her. More than once in the last two days, John had found himself staring into space, only for Derek to put coffee or a sandwich in front of him.
The morning of the third day, Effie and John had woken to texts from Stiles, telling them he was okay, not to look for him and that he'd be back soon. Neither had taken it well and Derek decided to go through with an idea he'd had for a couple of weeks.
Joining John downstairs while Effie showered and dressed for school, Derek sat with a small box in front of him and waited for John to acknowledge his presence.
"If you're planning on proposing Derek," John said, his back turned. "you might wanna let Effie down easy, first."
Derek laughed. "Not exactly where this was going but I'm glad to see you making a joke."
John sighed. "At this point, it's either keep up the brave front or completely break down and I can't do that to Effie."
"Well," Derek played with the box. "if you ever need a moment to break, I'll take care of Effie."
John smiled. "That's one thing I'll never worry about." he tapped the box. "Now, what's this?"
Derek opened the box carefully and turned it so John could see what was inside. Nestled in the gray fabric was a sterling silver Claddagh ring with a small citrine stone nestled inside the holding hands.
John looked at it for a few minutes before clearing his throat. "Which hand is that for?"
"Right." Derek said. "For now."
"For now." John repeated.
"You know I love Effie, Sheriff. Sometimes, it's more than I can put into words." Derek said plainly. "Now, you can give this to her and say it's a present from father to daughter. Or, you can let me, as her boyfriend, and we can all adjust to the fact that, somewhere down the road, I may be switching it to the other hand as an engagement ring."
John blew out a long breath, leaning back. "You know, I didn't think I'd be having any version of this conversation for at least another five years. But then," he smiled a bit. "Effie never did do anything the way the parenting books say little girls will, so I don't know why I'm surprised." he closed the box, handing it back to Derek. "You can give that to her but you swear to me, the next step will be her decision."
Derek nodded. "You have my word."
John returned the nod. "Good." he stood up. "I've gotta head to the station. Can you take Effie to see Isaac before school?"
"Of course." Derek consented. "And thank you, Sheriff."
John held out his hand. "At this point, I think you can call me John."
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Effie had just finished pulling her hair into a loose braid over her left shoulder when she heard Derek coming back towards her room. He'd stuck his head into the bathroom to say he was going to check on her father. She wasn't worried when he didn't come back right away; the two had been getting along amazingly since Stiles went missing. Again.
The thought of her brother had Effie bracing herself on her vanity as her knees threatened to buckle.
"Easy," Derek appeared behind her, hands sliding around her waist. "breathe through it." he could hear and feel Effie's heart rate accelerate.
Effie gripped Derek's hands, fighting back the urge to let her powers loose. But she couldn't let her grief turn into panic because it still triggered her and that was the last thing she needed in the middle of school.
"I don't think I can do this, Derek." Effie nearly whispered. "I know where he's supposed to be during classes and lunch. During cross country practice. I know he should be there but he won't be."
"Okay," Derek said softly. "okay. I'm gonna call your dad. Let him know that, after we see Isaac, I'm taking you to the loft. You shouldn't be here or at school right now."
Effie nodded, letting Derek lead her to the bed, where she sat as he pulled out his phone and called her father. She hated being this weak. She was a werefox, a druid. A goddamn Spark. But, like any twin, with her other half missing, she felt lost. Without direction. If it weren't for the pull of her mate from Derek, Effie doubted she'd even be able to function.
If that nogitsune ever took a physical form that wasn't her brother, she was ripping its throat out through its stomach. You don't mess with the Stilinski twins. A lesson most knew and a lesson the supernatural world needed to add to its rule book.
Effie wasn't playing around. Her fox and druid were hungry and she was out for blood.
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"Hey," Derek played with the ring box in his pocket as he and Effie made their way out of the house. "I want to give you something before we go."
Effie frowned, pulling her jacket on. "What is it?" Derek shifted in place. If Effie didn't know any better, she would swear he was nervous. Her frown deepened as she scented the air. He really was nervous. "Derek, what is it?"
Derek cleared his throat. "I asked your dad about this before deciding to go ahead, and I know this is bad timing with everything going on, but that's also why I wanted to do it now. And-"
"Derek." Effie gripped his wrists with a smile. "Calm down and just tell me." she saw him holding something in his fist. "Or show me."
Derek nodded and opened his hand, the small box sitting in his palm. "It's not an engagement ring, not yet. But, uh, it's something my dad did with my mom after they mated."
Effie let out a slow breath before taking the box and opening it. The Claddagh ring inside had her smiling brightly.
"Why citrine?" Effie asked, looking at the yellow-orange stone.
Derek cleared his throat, again. "It's meant to help with clarifying and magnifying personal power and energy. And brings good luck and fortune. I figured, with our lives and your powers, it could be helpful. And," he smiled a bit. "it's how I imagined your fox eyes to look, without the druid aspect."
Effie giggled, leaning up to kiss Derek. "You are so sweet." she held out the box. "I'm not putting it on myself, Hale."
Derek chuckled and removed the ring from the box. Taking Effie's right hand, he slid it onto her ring finger and kissed the stone.
"Like it?" he asked.
Effie ran her fingers over the ring. "Love it." she kissed Derek again. "I love you."
Derek bumped their noses. "Love you, too." he returned the kiss with another. "Let's go see Isaac."
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Effie picked the lock to Allison's apartment, easily sliding the door open. "You know, we could just try waiting and asking if he left it."
Derek gave her a look as he walked in. "We could but that's not exactly my style."
"Babe," Effie left the door open some. "you need to work on a new style. Breaking and entering is what put you on Dad's list to begin with."
"Actually, you did the breaking and entering this time." Derek pointed out. "I just followed you in."
"Oh sure," Effie snorted. "throw your girlfriend under the bus. I see how it is, take care of me and my dad, give me a gorgeous ring and then ditch me at the first sign of trouble."
Derek barely held back a growl as he jabbed the emitter into Chris's desk. "Effie,"
"Come on," Effie grabbed Derek's hand. "sitting here waiting is too easy. Let's make Argent work for this."
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Effie should have gone to school. Didn't matter if Stiles was missing, school was way better then being brought in by her brother's best friend's estranged father in handcuffs. Though, what the idiot was thinking handcuffing the daughter of the sheriff was beyond Effie.
She was taken into Rafael's office while Derek and Chris were cuffed to the bench outside her father's. Effie sat in one of the chairs, an annoyed sigh escaping her lips as Rafael closed the door.
"Care to explain why you're not in school?" the agent asked.
Effie looked up at him. "Do I care to? No. But I also know I don't have a choice in the matter so, what the hell." she shifted in her seat. "My brother's missing, again. Has been for over two days. You may have noticed. My father and boyfriend decided not to force me into school today, as I'm not exactly handling it well."
Rafael crossed his arms. "I wasn't aware your father took parenting advice from a former murder suspect."
Effie fisted her sheer scarf in her hands, to keep her temper. "I wasn't aware that FBI agents took rumors and ran with them. Guess we're both being enlightened today."
Rafael shook his head. "You know, for someone who came in here under arrest, you sure have a mouth on you. Most wouldn't see that as smart."
"I'm guessing those are also the ones who saw fit to make you an agent." Effie shot back. "I'll take the ones who do consider me smart." she leaned back. "If you think I'm going to make this easy on you when I'm holding all the cards and all you have is the joker, you're sadly mistaken, Agent McCall."
"Do you realize that kind of trouble you're in?" Rafael asked.
Effie met him dead on. "More than you can possibly know."
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All she could hear was loud ringing. That's all Effie was hearing. Ringing and chaos.
"-ie"
Blinking, Effie looked around, seeing Rafael kneeling in front of her.
"Ef-e." His voice was broken and distorted. "C- ar- me?"
Effie shook her head. "Barely." she swallowed the panic threatening to overwhelm her. "Where's my dad?"
Rafael looked over Effie's shoulder. "-e's c-ing"
Effie turned, wincing at the pain that sliced through her head. "Daddy,"
John fell to his knee in front of his daughter. "Baby girl," For some reason that Effie wasn't questioning, his voice came through loud and clear. "McCall, what the hell is my daughter doing here?"
Rafael gave him a look. "She was found with the two suspects in the Katashi murder."
"Derek and Mr. Argent." Effie answered softly. "Emitter found at the loft. We were set up."
John sighed. "There's nothing I can do for Derek right now, Ef. Let's get you taken care of."
Effie didn't protest as John picked her up in his arms. Normally, she'd complain she was too heavy and she didn't want him hurting himself but after what just happened, she wanted her dad.
As he carried her through the remains of the bullpen, the ringing in her ears grew louder, causing her to cry out in pain. She couldn't hear any voices any more, just chaos. It was too much, she couldn't handle it. Her Spark was screaming and her fox was agitated.
As she felt her father pass her to someone else, Effie shut herself off from the noise. She shut herself off from all of it.
~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~
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Cliff hangers, seriously. Not fun. They get me in trouble. But I can't help what the show does! Either way, if you want to know what Effie's ring looks like, shoot me a PM and I'll be glad to show you. I was going to add in seeing Isaac, but I didn't feel like making any of us cry more than needed. Or was I the only one crying when Effie admitted she couldn't go to school, knowing Stiles wouldn't be there? I was? Hmm, okay. Other than that, let me know what you think, flame policy stands and thanks for reading!
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