Chapter 51: The Triskelion

Derek shouldn't have bothered to ask her to leave anything alone. The trail after Erica and Boyd had turned freezing cold.

For some reason, Joe did not worry about Kate. It was probably the unwavering knowledge that at some point, Kate would find her and she did want to waste time in case Kate did not have anything to do with the missing teenagers.

So, she and Jimmy pinned up a large map of the county with its surrounding areas in the same spot on the wall where he used to have all the links to the Hale house fire. They marked where they dropped the phone, where they had been held captured, and what direction they would have taken. They still didn't know if anything had happened to Erica and Boyd or if they had left Beacon Hills on their own.

Joe kept checking her own phone, waiting for something, anything. Hoping for Erica to text her, send a picture of her and Boyd on a beach somewhere down south or taking the streetcars in San Francisco. It was a nice fantasy, one that made it bearable to keep going.

Still not in the mood for an argument with her dad, she left the voicemail unopened.

In the meantime, Jimmy started his blog back up and Joe finished her paper. After Sheriff Stilinski put out the warrant for Kate Argent's arrest, he had also granted her that interview, obviously feeling bad for disbelieving her. Police protection was available if she needed it, but she dismissed it. After all, her roommate was a fully shapeshifting werewolf.

'Criminal Pattern Recognition in Rural Police Forces - a case study of the Beacon Hills Murders' was the official title, and even though Jimmy made some snide comments, he proof-read it and claimed it to be ready. It was not her best work by far, but Professor Walker scheduled a review in a few days from now where they could pinpoint what she needed to improve in order to get it published. She would have to check if it even was publishable, because the killer was now at large, leaving the cases open again. Joe did not really care, just glad to get it done.

After everything, she could not fully bring herself to care so much about the doctorate at all.

Somehow, she ended up driving around after returning from Berkeley where she had tried to get a word with Professor Kane. Apparently she was attending some kind of seminar in Europe and wouldn't be back until later this week. All of Joe's questions would have to wait just a bit more. Muscle-memory had her pull up in front of the McCall house instead of the laundromat and for several minutes, she sat in the car not knowing if she should get out or not. Aunt Mel's car was missing, but not Scott's bike, so he might be home.

He should have known better. He really, really should have known better than set her up like that. As if he didn't know the full story with her and her dad. As if he didn't know she couldn't even bring herself to call her dad before she thought Kate might actually kill Derek. As if Scott hadn't lamented time and again how much he hated losing both his choice and control after Peter Hale gave him the bite.

With a weird tightness in her stomach, she backed out of the driveway and headed out to the Preserve instead. It was still daylight and with how quiet things had been since the kanima, she felt bold enough to venture out on her own. Not that she was going to traipse around the forest blindly, she had a destination in mind: the Hale house.

No one seemed to be here and bright sunshine at least made it appear friendlier than the haunted house-look it usually had. Still, she got out the shotgun and held it by her side as she exited the car.

Derek said they left their sign on the door.

Either it happened after she stopped by the other day — a small shiver in her spine at the thought of how she could have happened upon them as they were here — or she had just missed it because she hadn't been looking for it.

It being a black triskelion someone had painted on the front door of the house. Not like the one Derek had tattooed on his back — a few seconds passed where she could not get that image out of her head. This one was pointed, angular, with three feet, not spirals. She tilted her head — a strange sign, but it might mean something else to werewolves. Joe got the notion that this was the werewolf equivalent of pissing in another dog's bed to mark territory.

A noise behind her.

Joe tore around with the shotgun already up and a surprised Derek Hale in her sights. He held his hands up in surrender with raised eyebrows.

"Did you shuffle your feet?" she demanded, as he usually had the knack of just appearing without a sound. Thank God for trigger discipline. "Dude, you can not sneak up on me like that when I'm carrying a gun!"

"I think I miss the days where you'd just throw stuff at me," Derek replied and waited until she dropped the gun barrel down, facing away from him. He put his hands back in his pockets and walked up to stand next to her. "How come your first instinct when I said there's a new danger in town is running right to it? Are you trying to get kidnapped?"

They stared at each other, Derek with a raised eyebrow and Joe with wide innocent eyes.

"I brought the shotgun." She held it up as proof and he scoffed. "Dude, if not even you can get the drop on me, I think I'm safe."

"Luckily for you, I'm not a fan of guns. I've had you in my sights since you first pulled up."

"Okay, do you hear how weird that is? Why not just say hello like a normal person?"

He tilted his head and gave her a sarcastic smile. "Hello, Joe."

Joe's turn to scoff. "What are you doing here anyway? Are you following me? Thought your stalking days were over."

"No, this time I think you were the one following me. I came to pick something up," he said and went up to the house. Based on his slightly relaxed body language — she had a feeling he was never fully relaxed — there wasn't any immediate threat nearby and it made some tension leave her body. He stopped on the steps and looked back at her. "Are you coming?"

"Super vague invitation, but sure," Joe said and put the shotgun back in her car. The whole house looked different in the daytime, like when she and Scott was here trying to find Jimmy. The dust looked like glittering gold that kicked up with every step.

"I found this when looking for any clues about the kanima," Derek said as he went straight for a stack of books obviously gathered lately on a table in the living room. He flipped through one of them and produced a small square that he held out to her.

A black and white photograph, faded with age, showed a couple that had to be in their fifties maybe. Both looked to have dark hair — it was hard to tell from the low contrast — but they both looked happy at least. Smiling in front of a Christmas tree standing in a corner that looked familiar right down to the intricate carvings on the windowsill. So apparently werewolves celebrated Christmas. Nice to know.

Joe held the photo up so it aligned with where she assumed the tree had stood in this very house. The joy on the couple's faces was in stark contrast with the bleakness of the house today.

"My great-grandparents," Derek said, even though she had already guessed it.

"It's a nice picture. You should get it framed," she said and handed it back to him. He could not have many pictures left of his family at all. "Conserve it."

He nodded, but said nothing as he leaned on the table and studied the photo himself.

"You look a lot like him."

There was a definite resemblance between the man in the picture and Derek, despite the many generations separating them. Her heart fluttered when her comment made Derek smile gently, still looking at the picture. Oh boy.

Racking her brain for something worthwhile to say, hoping to distract him from her heartbeat, she ended up with: "Why did you show it to me? Not that I minded, of course, I'm glad you did, I just don't really get the motive-"

"I wanted to," Derek said simply and that did nothing for her inner turmoil in shape of butterflies. He put the picture away into his pocket and leaned back further on the table, supporting himself on his very muscular, very strong arms showcased by the short sleeves of his t-shirt. "You talk to your dad yet?"

She shook her head, trying to tear her eyes away from his body. His face was no better, so she ended up studying her own shoes. "No, not yet."

"You don't think you should let him know you're okay?"

"My dad's pragmatic too," she said, giving Derek a sharp glance. "If he's not here, there's bigger fish to fry somewhere."

With his head tilted somewhat, Derek had this slightly unfocused expression Joe had come to recognize as when he was using more than his human senses to listen to her. Eventually he nodded — Jesus, even his neck was so defined you could use him as an anatomy illustration. — and seemed to drop the matter.

"How's your paper going?" he asked instead, looking at her with what at least appared to be genuine interest. "Finished?"

"Mhm," Joe said and averted her gaze to literally anywhere else than how ridiculously perfect he was. That only made her look out the window, at the porch and the broken bannister. She shook her head to think somewhat straight. "Submitted it today, but it probably needs a few rounds of revision."

"Does that mean you're done with the PhD?"

Joe snorted, unable to help herself. "No, I need at least one more paper and a conference attendance before I can even begin on the main thesis. Walker wants me to get the last paper out before the fall-deadline, so that means work all summer if I can even find a topic. And she wants help with her own research, obviously, this paper was just her criteria for taking me on in the first place and-"

Derek kept quiet while she ranted, only offering small follow-up questions as he continued leaning on the table. If she managed to get her head in the game, she had at least one more year before she could get her doctorate. Her head was definitely not in the game now.

He had to know, right? How the sun shining through the dirty window panes made his hair glow and eyes practically sparkle? He had to know how it highlighted the contours of his arms, how his t-shirt laid over his flat stomach, but stretched over his chest, how the slight parting of his lips only accentuated his razor-sharp jawline, right?

"...with the conference being in Toronto, it's still- oh my God, can you stop doing that?" she finally demanded and waved her hands at him.

Cue his eyebrow raise. "Doing what?"

"You're doing it on purpose!" Joe said and gestured at him again, how he was sitting there, fully aware of his Greek God-like stature. "It's really distracting."

"I'm sorry," Derek said with a slight smile and he shifted to crossing his arms instead, as if that did not fully emphasize his large biceps. "I can't help it. I just like hearing you talk about your work."

Her face twisted into a frown. This was about him looking too hot to handle, not about her pacing around lamenting about how much work she had left.

"Why?" she asked suspiciously. "Because I'm not asking questions?" He did a half-shrug, as if to say 'maybe', still smiling. Something nudged Joe's mind and she asked: "What do you mean you can't help it? Help what? How you look?"

Shaking his head, Derek tried to explain, recognizing her confusion. "It's a form of...pheromones, I guess." His brows furrowed, as if this was not something he had put into words before. "It's just a signal saying I like you. It's not something I can control and it'd be easier to explain to a werewolf, but-"

Joe had stopped listening halfway. Feeling around twelve years old, like she should be handing him a note with answer checkboxes, she asked: "You like me?"

She had worried he would laugh at her for presuming something so stupid, but when she dared to glance up he looked completely humorless. Eyes so dark she nearly squirmed under his scrutiny.

"You're not serious."

"I'm," she shifted and cleared her throat, fully aware of the blush rising in her cheeks, "a little serious."

"After everything, that is a question you had to ask?"

Things were easier in middle school where you checked off 'Yes, 'No' or 'Maybe'. What kind of answer was that? Did he or didn't he? Now Joe had the urge to ask if he liked-liked her.

"Well, yeah." She did a weird half-shrug as the heat rose steadily up her spine. "Okay, so, I know that you-" want me "-feel like you have to protect me or that I'm your responsibility."

Unfortunately, he didn't take the bait, leaving her fumbling to continue.

"And I guess we're kind of becoming friends, because I really care about you, but that's not the same as you," she pulled in a sharp breath, "liking me."

He did not look any happier, so she stuttered a bit, trying to explain.

"You don't really act like you like me," she protested at his continuing dark eyes. "Half the time it's like you tolerate me at best. Other half I frustrate you. An infinitesimally small amount of the time you, I, uh..." apparently want to mate with me? which was a sentence she would never say out loud.

Derek got up from where he had lounged against the table. She froze, worried what would happen if he came up to her, but instead he stalked out to the other side of the room. His turn to pace around now.

"I don't know what you want, Joe," he said in the end, seemingly at his wit's end. "I've tried everything. First I come on too hard, then I give you space, then it's apparently too much space? Of course you frustrate me, you are without a doubt the most frustrating person I have ever met. Do you know what you want?" He ended his statement with a shake of his head. "Because I have no idea."

"I told you, I want you to do what you want to do," she said, fumbling over the confusing sentence. "Not what you think I want you to do or whatever your inner wolf wants you to do."

"Joe, I-" Derek still shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. He seemed tempted to grab her shoulders to shake some sense into her, but kept his arms crossed and spoke slowly. "Joe, I am a werewolf."

"Yeah, duh?"

"No, you don't get it, you obviously don't," he said, stilling her protests. "I don't have an inner wolf, not like you think I do. It's not a separate entity. It's all me. I'm not part wolf, part human, I'm a werewolf. A hundred percent, through and through."

He took a few steps around with no particular direction in mind, just pacing like she usually did.

"I'm not possessed by some wolf spirit," he went on, gesturing at himself. "It's not something I hang by the door when I get home to put on every full moon. I am a werewolf all the time. From the way I was raised to the way I think to the way I act. Do you think I lack the capability of autonomous thought? That everything I do is either fighting my wolf-side or mindlessly enabling it?"

For once, he was the one who did not let her get the chance to answer.

"Joe, I'm more aware of my instincts, but I'm not usually overpowered by them. Maybe it gets harder during the full moon, but I've spent almost twenty minutes in a car with you during the full moon without losing control, so it's not like I'm insentient or some wild animal. Which I thought was kind of obvious considering how attracted I am to you and I still hav-"

Joe swore she did not make a sound, but his eyes flew to her face.

"You're serious?" he asked slowly while she just tried to breathe normally. "You didn't know that either?"

"Well, I, uh, no," she stuttered, trying to find something else to focus on besides him. "Not...exactly. Which I guess is kind of stupid considering the mate-thing and all, you don't really have a choice-"

"You think it's just the mate-bond?" he asked, his flat voice telling of his frustration. "You don't think I'd be attracted to you if it hadn't been for that?" Before she could even begin to consider how she was going to answer, he continued: "Would you have been attracted to me if it hadn't been for the bond?"

Heart hammering, she just said: "I don't know."

"It's a yes or no question."

"But that's the thing!" Joe snapped and threw her hands up. "I don't know! Maybe? How can I tell? You're hot as hell and I'd notice that, obviously, it seems I can't stop noticing it at times, but attraction is more, right? I've met people and become attracted to them over time, even when I didn't think they were hot at the beginning. But with you it's like- I don't know! I have no way of knowing! There is no hypothetical 'what if the bond was not there', because it is."

"If you wanted it gone, why did you stop-"

"I don't want it gone, Derek, I just..." Another round of hand-waving at nothing. "It's just, I dunno, complicated? I just wish we could have gotten to know each other without it. Does that make sense? I wish I didn't have to think back to every single conversation we've ever had and wonder if that was you or the bond talking."

She weaved her fingers into her curls to lift them from her head.

"I'm not even gonna ask if you would have thought twice about me if it hadn't been for the bond, because I know you wouldn't. Don't even try and deny it," she held her hand up because he had looked on the verge of protesting, "you did everything you could to push me away in the beginning even with the bond and again, I get that! Compartmentalizing, people dying everywhere, rogue Alpha, you were literally wanted for murder — not the best time for any kind of," loose gesture at nothing, "distraction."

She was rambling again, but she could not have stopped if she tried.

Joe shrugged and tried to stuff her hands into the opposite elbow to stop them from waving around so much. "Besides, the mountain ash only dampened the pain-thing, not the rest. I thought it was responsible for how we were fighting too, but according to Deaton, that was just us. And that's the problem, right? I can't tell where my feelings end and the bond begins — in either direction!"

Joe had no idea what she was trying to say, pieces of fleeting thoughts spilling out.

"It's like, we didn't get to have that time in the beginning where everything's new and exciting and you don't know if it's gonna work out or if you feel the same as the other," Joe explained while gesturing wildly, completely missing Derek's deadpan expression. "Everything's pre-determined. No first dates, no shy glances, no spending all day analyzing a single text, no will-they-won't-they Hallmark romantic special."

With a heavy sigh, Derek leaned back against the table. A half-hearted shrug as he suggested: "If you want a first date, let's go out."

"I told you, don't do that," Joe snapped. "Don't ask me out just because you think that's what I want."

"I wasn't asking."

For a second she stared at him. He looked more tired than smug, but the sentence was hard to misinterpret. "Okay, that makes it worse, Derek. What, you're so entitled to me that you don't need to ask now?"

"Since asking you last time didn't work, I thought I'd try something different."

"You didn't ask me last time either," she shot back immediately. "You asked if I wanted you to take me out. Not the same." Ignoring the way his eyebrows rose up in an unimpressed manner, she continued: "Intent matters, Derek, not just in the courtroom. If you're going to ask me out, do it because you think I'm worth getting to know better, not because you're humoring me until you can groom me to be your personal breeding mare-"

Realizing what she just said, she snapped her mouth shut. Derek's eyebrows were as high as they had ever been, his eyes widened uncharacteristically large.

"A what?" he asked, in a tone of someone who had lost grips of this conversation. "I've nev- why would- Where did you get that from?"

Joe bit her teeth together, tempted to kick up dust with her foot. Her and her big mouth. "The stupid bestiary that I had Lydia translate, it said that true mates symbolizes a new powerful pack or whatever." She cleared her throat harshly. "And some, uh, stories I found when I tried to research it elsewhere and those were really disturbing, by the way, and if you ever bite me to 'mark' me I will shoot your balls off and don't think I'm exaggerating here, I will-"

"Joe," Derek said to cut her off. "I'm not- that's not- we're not- you thought-" He never finished any of his statements, as her whole body demeanor betrayed very well that she thought. "That is not how packs work, that is not how mates work, it's not what I want at all, it's-"

"Well, how should I know? Literally everything I know about mates is in the name." She tried to cover up her blush by turning around, gesturing to the empty space. "The verb. To mate. Kinda self-explanatory."

"The word mate, in this context, is a noun. It comes from the Old English word ġemetta," Derek's voice was unusually soft as he explained, "which means to share food. It evolved to mean someone you share everything with, a companion or an equal. It's got nothing to do with..." He trailed off. "You thought- is that why you've been fighting this so hard? Is that why you asked me about kids?"

She finally turned around, looking at him only marginally better than not looking at him. "I don't know what I thought, okay? This is all very confusing to me and you're doing the seriously bare minimum to help! I'm sorry I'm not a werewolf with stupid werewolf senses that can just read someone's feelings like an open book! I need you to tell me things — with words! Explicitly!"

Joe gestured at him. "You're very confusing to me. You're hot and you're cold all over the place and that I can sort of handle, but it's worst when you're this sort of lukewarm, like you're all touchy feely one day and the next you're giving me the cold shoulder, but then you're stuck in-"

"Joe, I am trying to let you take the lead," Derek said in a low voice, exasperation written all over his face as his shoulders slumped. "I am trying to use these stupid werewolf senses and listen to whatever signs you give me," he ran a hand through his hair, spiking it up further, "which I now realize is completely useless because you are not even in agreement with yourself half the time."

Her face flushed, she could only shrug excessively. "Well, that's on you then."

Derek didn't even answer. He threw his head back with another deep inhale, pinching the bridge of his nose. The breath came out in a long huff and he spoke mostly to the floor. "Please, will you go out with me?"

"I tol-"

"Joe, I like you and I find you attractive," he said slowly, still facing the floor more than her. "I'm not sure how much more explicit I can make this. I want to take you on a date because I like you and think you're attractive."

"But it's not about that!" Joe insisted, frustrated how he would always cling onto specifics and lose the bigger picture. Like she had not gone on a whole rant and he picked up a single item to answer as if that solved everything. It was the kids-question all over again.

"Then what is it about?" His shoulders were tense, she could see how they moved as he rubbed a hand over his stubble. "You're worried I'm only interested in you because of my 'inner wolf' that I just told you doesn't exist? That I'm only trying to keep you safe because we share pain, not because I care about you? That I'm only asking you out to shut you up, not because I like spending time with you?"

This was the closest thing she had ever heard him coming to a rant, but it was a lot more coherent than hers. As usual, his interpretation hit the nail right on its head.

"Yes," she said eventually and cleared her throat, "all of the above." The aggravated expression on his face made her automatically try and defend herself. "But to be fair, you've only come close to asking me out after I mention it first."

"How do you know I wasn't leading up to that?" he asked with an eyebrow raised in challenge. Before she could call his bluff, he shrugged. "Do you know why I like hearing you talk about your work? It's not just because I find it interesting, which I do, it's also because you're comfortable. Confident. You relax." He shook his head in thought. "I didn't even realize it at first, but when we woke up that morning in the Preserve, after you took the wrong pills and I lost control-"

"Yeah, I vaguely remember," she mumbled, too flushed to say much else.

"-and you were freaking out because of this meeting," he continued as if he hadn't heard her, "because it was important to you and all I could think about was how you were more worried about that over the fact that I had essentially abducted you and I just knew I had to do everything I could to get you to Berkeley in time and after the meeting, on the benches when you told me about it, you were calm again, comfortable and," Derek looked at her with his clear green eyes, "your scent was-"

He cut himself off with a small shake of his head. "That's what I want, Joe. I want you to be comfortable and talking to me, not because you have to, but because you want to."

Now that was a ramble. By the time he had finished, she could barely hear his words over her pulse rising in her ears. That was- that was what? Sweet? Thoughtful? Honest?

"Joe, the bond doesn't control either of us. It connects us." He gave her a small shrug. "That's it."

And like all the other times, that answered some questions, but also produced a lot more.

"Can I just ask you something?" She tried to smile to cover for the loud heartbeat. "It can be counted as one of the three questions you still owe me."

"You don't have to bargain questions, Joe, I don't mind you asking me three hundred if it helps you." At her silence, Derek tilted his head at her, waiting for her to work up the nerve. "Yes, Joe, you can ask me anything."

"Why-" She cleared her throat. She only knew the general gist of what she wanted to know, hadn't thought far enough ahead to put it into words. It was too hard to look at him, so she focused on his elbow instead from where he had crossed his arms over his chest. "At the dinner," she started slowly, "in the bathroom and," her arms kept folding and unfolding across her own chest, "uh, out here that night-"

Now she wondered if he would be able to hear her voice over her heart going a mile a minute. As much as she stuttered, it was a wonder if he even managed to understand her.

"What was different," she risked a glance to his face that had definitely softened a bit, "those times? I mean, if you like me and you know I like you and-"

Why had they almost kissed then and not all the other times they had the chance? Why had he not tried to kiss her before or after or inbetween? If he liked her and he knew she liked him, why?

To her horror, her words made him step away from the table and come towards her. Stalking her way, where her feet moved on their own, shuffling her backwards, until her back hit the wall and there was nowhere else to go.

Derek stopped in front of her and put one hand next to her head, leaning down towards her. She swallowed, too aware of both her own and his body now. Like a long time ago, in the hospital storage room, his scent saturated the air around her, wrapping her in a cocoon of only him.

His eyes were dark as he asked: "You sure you want to know?"

Lips dry, she licked them and saw how his gaze homed in on that immediately. Predatorial, she thought. On the hunt. Out loud, she admitted: "Having second thoughts."

Derek nodded, as if he had expected that and his eyes cleared a fraction. "That's it."

"What?" She sounded breathless even to her own ears. "That's what?"

"Your smell," he explained, but did not pull away from where he hovered over her. "Your signals. I wasn't joking when I said they're all over the place. Even now you're more nervous than anything else. I need to know that you want this, Joe, without any doubts. I don't want you to regret anything." He lost more of his suave tone, almost sounding unsure of himself. "I can't."

Which was admittedly the sexiest thing anyone had ever said to her. Apparently her body must have revealed how she felt about his words, because his eyes closed and she saw his bicep flex as he clenched his fist. Affected, by her, by her scent, by her signals.

Sure, she thought and mentally rolled her eyes, the bond didn't control them at all, huh?

"Are you going to answer me?"

Mind too clouded with the sight and scent of him, but still longing for the taste and touch, she could not even remember what they had been talking about anymore. "What?"

Derek's bright eyes burned with something indescribable when he opened them again. "Joe Delgado, will you please go out with me?"

They stared at each other and she became aware of her own deep breaths, and more importantly, how Derek's gaze flickered to her chest every time she inhaled. It was not even like she wore a deep-cut top, it was a regular t-shirt. It was probably her heart, hammering loudly, but it was hard to tell if it was nerves or excitement. How many other signs did she have? Flushed cheeks, slightly swollen lips, dilated pupiles — his eyes seemed to roam her face, darting to each new tell of what her body was waiting for.

Was she still nervous? Maybe. Could he be teasing her now? Not sure. He seemed to be restraining himself as much as she was preparing herself. She wanted this, but maybe he didn't right now? What chemosignal was he waiting for? How could she get her body to emit the right one without knowing what the right one was?

"Okay." She had almost forgotten the sound of her own voice.

He inhaled deeply, now she became aware of his expanding chest, how his hand up by her head had caused his t-shirt to ride up slightly, showing a hint of a V-line, where his hips met his...uh, pelvis.

"Why-" She sounded like she had just ran a marathon, but she had to know. "Why not- why not now?"

Her breathing stopped completely when he leaned in, but only to the side of her head. Warm breath fanned over her ear as he whispered: "Because I want to take you on a date."

Somehow she found more air in her lungs to choke out: "Now?"

"No." It helped marginally that Derek sounded out of breath too. "I told Isaac I'd be back before dark."

She saw his neck muscles tighten as he swallowed. They weren't touching anywhere, but he radiated warmth and if he bent the arm he had against the wall, he could practically cover her with his body. Another heatwave passed through her and her breath shuddered.

"I'll text you."

It was hard to fathom that this was supposedly not the bond. She did not know she, alone, was capable of this kind of intense - in lack of better words - longing.

It took some time for her to find her voice. "Okay."

"Okay," Derek repeated and pushed himself off the wall, like it took some effort. He glanced around the darkening room, and she wondered if he saw it how it was or how it used to be. "Come on, let's get out of here."

Unable to speak, let alone think, she went out the front door after him. The slight chill in the air washed over her, making it a bit easier to breathe. Joe paused briefly to glance at the triskelion and her hand trailed the sharp lines.

"Do you think they used a stencil or something? It's very neat."

"Joe, just get in your car and go, please."

For once, she did what he asked. He'd text her after all. Presumably about a date. Oh boy.

It's happening, guys. It's happening! This is not a drill. They're going on a date! I repeat, they're going on - a - date!

We have time for some more fluff before season 3, right? Next chapter is date-chapter. Most of it's already written, but if you have any particular topics you want them to discuss, please suggest them and I'll see if I can make it fit in. Some things are still secret for plot purposes, of course.

JoyDG: I've noticed that there sometimes a lag in posting a review before it shows up, but don't worry! Totally agree with you on Joe moving out again. Not sure how clear I've made it, but she did live on her own for a few years after high school. Now she's ready to be out again. It marks a new chapter of her arc and speaking as someone who moved out at 17 (for school, I still have a great relationship with my parents), I could never imagine living with them again either, haha, so I get how you feel!

Also thank you to everyone else who reviewed, you are so awesome and it means so much to me.

Just one more chapter before we wrap up 2020! Crazy! Also, passed 300k words! Double crazy!

Thank you for reading and please let me know what you think :) Again, not much action, but another long Halegado-conversation. See you on the 31st!