poly_chromatic | six ✚ returned

[ Melissa is not in her scrubs this time, but her civvies, and she’s smirking quietly to herself. The memory of Scott closing the door in his father’s face is one that she’ll treasure for a very long time. ]

Hello? Scott McCall and I are back again. I think we just took a year off the poor worker’s life, the guy doing the drywall in the clinic? Yeah, not pretty. I’ve never seen a saw bounce before. Hope I never see it again.

[ And, sure enough, there’s a very loud buzzing just off camera. Apparently the worker heard that. Oops.

Into the feed, a wild Scott McCall appears! Just his head, anyway, leaning down into it beside his mother’s. ]

But, he’s fine, he’s fine! [ He looks off screen.. ] Nobody was injured. [ He looks back. ] Sorry to anybody if we had plans. But, we’re back now and we’re not planning on going anywhere. [ Unless everyone else gets out with them.

Melissa pokes her head back into frame again.]

Oh! And Lydia? Tell me you fed the cat? I mean...how long have we been gone, after all? Ziggy wasn’t too much of problem, was he?

[ Scott is about to say something else, but he notices something offscreen. ] No way. [ And he slides out of frame leaving Melissa to take the reins. Offscreen… ] Cool.

...Okay. Just a note to say we’re back. Stiles, Isaac, Derek? Are you all okay?

[ And Scott is back. ]

You’re still here, right? [ Scott brings it closer, fiddling and then soon, the feed is private! ]

derek ]

Thanks. [ To his mom. To the device... ] I think I’m all caught up. Sorry if you came by Monday night. The City thought we didn’t need to talk. But, we still should.

isaac ]
We will hang out this weekend.

[ Fiddling with it again, Scott adjusts to make the feed public once more ]

public ]

So, that’s what leaving is like. We had no clue we were here. And then we were just… back. If anybody needs us, we’ll be back at the apartment in a couple of minutes. Angela, I’ll be in to work tomorrow. [ A beat before he adds ] Has anybody heard from Wally?

[ ooc: Replies will be coming from both Scott and Melissa! ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I hope you're right. The only reason I haven't kicked him out is because technically he's still on the deed title. I knew I shoulda changed that...

[Sorry, this is left-over stress from being, you know, tied up in a root cellar for twenty-four hours plus.]

[ You have no idea how grateful he is for this leftover stress, seriously. What would he do without you? Really without you? ]

He's not going to stay long. He's an FBI agent. He can't stay as long as he wants. Can he?

[Hopefully they won't have to find out for many, many more years.]

That's what I'm telling you. He is still part-owner of the house. It was part of the settlement. That way if we ever sold it, he'd get a cut of the proceeds. It's...part of how I managed to get custody.

He can stay as long as he wants. It's technically his house too, and he has the law on his side.

[ Well, maybe he can stay there but Scott doesn't have to acknowledge him. If he has to, he can stay with Stiles. Or, come home later after his dad's gone to bed. He'll manage. If he'd come back for another reason maybe Scott would rethink. Maybe. But, he didn't. He came back because people were missing and the FBI got called in. ]

This City better not take him too.

Well, if that happens, he doesn't have to stay with us. Because the settlement doesn't apply here.

[She'd always tried to keep a good face on everything about the divorce, not badmouth her ex and let Scott draw his own opinion. And he had. But...she can't help but vent a little bit.]

I didn't even know he still had keys.

[Ah. Another sore point. Melissa gets a really sour look on her face, and knows that her next two words are going to really upset her son.]

He doesn't.

He used the hide-a-key.

Bingo.

And I can't even charge him with breaking and entering since...yeah. His house too.

And he's in the FBI.

And he's in the FBI.

[She bites her lip.]

Look...when we get back home, the best thing we can do is be as open and honest with him as we can. Tell him just enough that he stops digging. The more we close him out, the more stubborn he's gonna get.

We don't have to tell him anything.

[ But, he knows she's right. If they remember any of this - they didn't this time they went home. ]

What's the phrase you use? We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. [ And now he doesn't want to talk about this anymore. ] Lydia wants us to get carry-out. [ He gets up, then. ]

...I'd rather burn that bridge, but that's just me.

[She stands up with him, and puts out one hand on his shoulder.]

Scott? Honey? I love you. I just wanted to tell you that.

I love you too.

[ It's scary that he means it less, that despite the inflection he uses and the arch of his eyebrows, it comes out slightly more hollow to him. ]

six ✚ returned

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