keeper (d. Hale)

ring, ring.

"Hello?... Hello?..."

"Honestly," Delilah sighed as she hung up the phone for the 5th time.

"Well stop answering it," Derek called through the open door.  

Delilah scowled at the offending piece of plastic. It mocked her in its silence as it appeared to only ring when she made to set foot outside of Noah's office. It didn't matter how long she waited as a toe over the threshold only had her turning on her heal to scramble back to the incessant ringing.  

But with every hello she pushed out her cheery deposition was only greeted by dead air, not a dial tone,  but instead the quiet hum of silence.

At first Derek was amused by the phone but now its constant disruption was grating against his ears.  

"But it might be important,"Delilah replied as she ran her hand across the top of the cardboard box at the edge of the desk. She debated opening it for Noah but didn't want to overstep. Instead, she dropped her hand with a sigh and walked to the edge of the office doorway to see the men still chained to their bench.

Chris dejectedly kept his head leaned against the window connected to Noah's office and stared off into the station's florescent ceiling lights.

"If it was important then there would be someone who actually works here to man Noah's desk while he's gone," Chris sighed with out looking at her.

Delilah leaned against the open door way with her arms crossed and a pout across her lips. If she didn't pass it, the phone wouldn't keep up its cruel game. "I knew the station was short handed but this is a little bit ridiculous."

Delilah watched the two administrators left on the floor sort through case files on their desk. She swore one moment the station was bustling with activity and the next it could have been filled with the sound of crickets or in this case, slow clacking keyboards.

"I mean Rafael hasn't even come out of his office to scold me for talking to you two."

The man in question had drawn the blinds on the occupied office window. Obviously who ever he was on the phone with was more of a priority than the two men he had arrested.

Delilah looked at the time on the station clock just outside of the break room before rolling her eyes.

"Of course..."

"Of course what?" Chris groaned with a roll of his head. He obviously wasn't taking this situation as lightly as the Hales.

"Shift change."

"If it's a shift change, then why hasn't Noah come back? And why won't they answer their phones?" Chris started to babble. Delilah figured he was more irritated that Allison hadn't returned his messages than his actual arrest.  

"I'm sure there is a good reason we haven't heard from Noah, Scott or Allison." Derek reassured him before turning to watch the door. He was strongly considering if grabbing Delilah by the edge of her sweater to bring her down across his lap would be a good idea or not. He wanted to kiss the lovely flush painting cheeks from rushing to answer the phone.

Delilah kept her eyes on the clock, watching the second hand tick away. When it reached 12, she turned to the sound of the station door opening and smiled as the second shift filed in. 

To her displeasure she didn't recognize half of the officers who gave her a polite nod as they walked by, however a few did a double take as she remained standing so casually in the Sheriff's office doorway. They obviously didn't know her and must be filling in from outside of the county.

"Good, someone to finally answer the phones..." Chris chirped with a role of his eyes.

"There's a fresh pot of coffee in the break room," Delilah called out to them happily, trying to cover Chris's snark. Perhaps if she got onto their good side right off the bat, the three of them would be out the station door with in the hour or at least in the sane hands of Noah.