"You're stronger than you give yourself credit for." Parrish comments and hands back the coffee mug I borrowed from the cabinet at the station.
Not wanting to be alone, I declared I would be pulling his all-nighter with him whether he wanted me to or not. Of course, Parrish being Parrish tried to get me to go home and get a good night's sleep, but when I told him what happened with Derek, he made both of us coffee. The two of us went back and forth with telling each other lame jokes and I told him more about the supernatural world.
I roll my eyes and sit back in the chair that used to belong to Haigh's desk. I had dragged it over to Parrish's to be able to talk to him better. "Why are people always telling me that?" I test to see if my coffee is too hot and end up burning the tip of my tongue. I frown at the unusual sensation on my tongue now.
"Maybe because it's true." Parrish raises an eyebrow at me. He sits back down in his chair, setting his own mug down by his computer.
I spin the chair around to bring myself closer to his desk. I set my mug down for a split second to bring my legs up on the chair. "I don't feel strong." I sigh while reaching back for coffee. I hold it with both of my hands and resting on the top of my knees.
"You went through your sister dying then to yourself dying. You came back to life, attended your own funeral, couldn't tell anyone that it was you, still managed to protect all of your friends, told Derek to move on, and you're still standing. You're trying to tell me that you aren't strong?"
"Actually, I'm sitting." I correct him before taking a sip of my coffee once it's a little cooler.
Parrish shoots me a glare. "You know what I meant. You're still here." He picks up some reports that he has to go through that Sheriff Stilinski and Lydia wanted him to check. Names that were left from the code that Lydia's grandmother left for her. "Most people wouldn't still be able to keep going after going through all of that."
"What makes you think I can?" I ask kind of curious to know why he has so much faith in me.
Parrish spins his chair to face me full on. "The deadpool is still out there with assassins trying to kill everyone. What are you going to do?"
"Protect my friends." I reply with no hesitation.
Parrish nods his head. "That's what I mean."
I quirk an eyebrow beginning to release what he means. No matter what happens to me- no matter how severe- I will always protect my friends. My heart has been broken several times and I never stop putting my life in danger to save theirs. It's just what I do. If I were to do anything else, it would just feel wrong. People have tried to steer me away from being a protector, but nothing ever worked. Sometimes, it feels like I was born to be a protector.
I bring the coffee back to my lips.
"Things might be hard right now, but you'll get through it." Parrish turns his chair back towards his desk. He picks up the papers to read through them. "You always do."
I analyze Parrish's face with a look of awe. Parrish and I have only been this close for less than a year. He seems to know me better than I know myself. He's become an a best friend and almost like an older brother to me. He can't really be an older brother to me because, let's be honest here, Parrish is not ugly. Now, I wouldn't date him because I don't see him that way and I've picked up on the way he looks at Lydia.
There's, like, a love pentagon going on in my circle of friends. Thankfully, I'm not in that mess.
I place my coffee back down on his desk and shift my butt to the left to make the chair slide across the floor closer to his own chair. Our chairs bump into each other. I pick up the papers from his hands, determined to help make his night a little easier. Something catches my eye near the bottom of the paper. My brows furrow together as I flick to the next piece of paper.
I quickly look through the rest of the papers, "Parrish?" I stand up with a sense of dread in the pit of my stomach. I spread the papers out on his desk for him to see everything. I point to the line that caught my eye.
"What-" Parrish abruptly stops talking when he sees what I'm pointing out.
On every filed report of each person that was on list of Lydia's grandma's code, the section that reads where the body was returned to the morgue with Brunski's name. Parrish meets my troubled gaze after looking over every paper.
I reach for my phone in my pocket. I turned it on silent when I was talking to Derek to avoid anyone interrupting what I had planned on being a good night. After leaving there upset, I didn't even think to check my phone. As I unlock my phone, I begin to regret my decision to do that when I see Lydia and Stiles texted me at nearly identical times to say they were headed to Eichen House.
"Shit. Shit." I curse under my breath. "We need to get to Eichen right now. I'll fill you in when we are on our way."
One foot in front of the other, I sneak down the hallway of Eichen House right behind Parrish. Despite being a highly trained hunter- as much as I hate that word- Parrish refused to let me lead the way. One of the orderly said they saw Lydia, Stiles, Brunski go in one of the rooms down this hallway.
Parrish and I skillfully move down the way in perfect sync. The two of us have never worked together in a way like this, yet we acted as if we've been partners for years. The orderly at the front office gave me a weird look when they saw my bow hooked over my back, but Parrish sorted that out by saying I came from archery class and the arrows were fake. Thankfully, the guy didn't ask us for proof of that.
I have my bow and arrow at the ready, while Parrish has his gun drawn. "Parrish." I whisper his name.
He looks over his shoulder to see me staring at him, yet not really looking at him. "Can you hear them?" Parrish asks, understanding what I'm trying to do.
This whole being able to increase my hearing ability is completely weird. How I do it? I have no idea. All I know is that right now, I want nothing more than to hear my friends' voices to figure out where they are before Brunski hurts them. The reports said the cause of death was suicide, which is too odd. Brunski is the killer here and everyone's been blind to the truth for years.
"I'll admit, Stiles, I don't have any unusual talents like Lydia, but, somehow, I just knew we were gonna get a chance to do this again."
I nod my head to the final room at the end of the hallway about twenty feet away. "They're in there. I don't know what Brunski is up to, but it doesn't sound good."
Parrish quickens his pace with me close on his heels. The two of us creep inside of the room to see it's mainly abandoned and probably used for storage. Our eyes settle upon Lydia and Stiles, who are tied up to a pole in the middle of the room with Brunski holding a syringe to Lydia's neck.
"Drop it!" Parrish commands, swiftly moving closer to them.
I follow behind Parrish before moving to stand by his side. Stiles stares up at us in relief. A bruise forming on his face sends a hot wave of anger through my body. I point my arrow at Brunski's chest, remaining calm enough to not allow my anger to take control of me.
"Take your thumb off that needle-"
"- and slowly withdraw it from her neck." Parrish finishes for me.
The two of us draw closer to see Lydia on the verge of a breakdown and Brunski tightly holding her face in his hands with his other hand gripping the syringe to her neck.
Brunski glowers, "Young Deputy, you're just a kid. I bet you've never even fired a-"
The sound of Parrish's gun going off and an arrow being released echoes throughout the room. Both lodge themselves deep in Brunski's chest before he can jam the needle into Lydia's neck. He slams into the ground off to the side.
Parrish keeps his gun pointed at Brunski while the two of us start to help Lydia and Stiles become untied. I sling my bow back over my back to help Stiles faster.
"He- He killed my grandmother." Lydia moves away from the pole. "He was controlling Meredith."
I grab Stiles' hand and help him stand.
"He used her to create the deadpool." Stiles adds.
Lydia turns her head to gaze at Brunski laying flat on his back with blood pooling out of his chest. "And killed her when she tried to help us."
Suddenly, Brunski chokes on his own blood and starts laughing. "You- You think it was me?" He pants, struggling to catch a breath from the blood filling his lungs. "That I was controlling her?" He weakly laughs, "Idiots...She was controlling me." Brunski manages to say that with his last and final breath.
"Oh, god." Lydia breathes in realization. "It's not him. He's not the Benefactor."
"No," A soft voice comes from another part of the room.
I step in front of Stiles and Lydia when I see Meredith move out from behind a shelving unit. My eyes widen in shock. Parrish said she committed suicide in her room at Eichen.
Meredith walks towards Brunski's dead body. "And, he wasn't on my list, but he was a bad person."
XXXX
I keep realizing that this story is slowly getting close to the end and I'm excited. I'm not excited for it to end, but I'm excited for what I have planned for the ending. That's all I can say about that.
Wait. One more hint.
I have one more twist up my sleeve.
There's three episodes left! I don't think you guys are ready for what I have planned. I will go ahead and say this, though...Clara will be a part of season five.
Question: Do you agree with Parrish about Clara being strong?
So, yeah!