Teeth (Liam Dunbar - Teen Wolf) [1]

=19=

"I want to be here for you,"

~~~~

Melody and Scott were at the Sheriff's Station the next evening, waiting patiently for their father to come out of Stilinski's office. Melody didn't really want to be there but after everything that had happened in the past couple of days neither sibling wanted to let the other out of their sight, so here they stood. The siblings were leaning against one of the desks, Melody with her head resting on Scott's shoulder as she fiddled with the hem of her skirt. Scott glanced down at his little sister, the two exchanging a small look before Scott tapped his ear, indicating that Melody should listen in to what her father was saying.

"Preliminary notes on firearm discharge incident." Melody heard her father say and she straightened up, she knew that her father had killed the assassin teacher at her school, hell - she'd seen it with her own eyes, but she didn't realise that her father would need to have a whole case or whatever it was he was doing because of it.

"This is because of the teacher that tried to kill Stiles? And you, Malia and Kira?" Melody whispered to her brother, her eyebrows furrowed. Scott nodded his head slowly, his arm draping over his little sister's shoulders. Melody sighed to herself and tuned back in to her father's voice.

"Assailant armed with sound-suppressor equipped Walther P88. Having heard the perpetrator's threat and countdown, I made visual confirmation of the barrel of the weapon pressed to the potential victim's head. Determining the danger to be imminent, I felt no other choice but to respond with the use of deadly force." 

Once Rafael was finished with whatever he was doing in the office, Melody and Scott tuned out of their father's voice, exchanging small, sad looks because of how torn up their father sounded. Scott squeezed Melody's shoulders gently, the two of them turning in the direction of the office doors as they opened to reveal Rafael McCall, evidence bags in hand. He smiled when he saw his children waiting for him and began to walk towards them.

"Thanks for waiting. I know it's late." Rafael said, Melody and Scott waved their hands dismissively.

"It's okay." Scott said, his arm dropping from Melody's shoulders. "It's not like we're going to be going to school tomorrow anyway."

"Unfortunately, I'm going to have to drive back to San Francisco tonight." Rafael said, avoiding looking at his daughter as her small smile straightened out into a frown.

"You're leaving again?" Melody asked, her voice faltering slightly. 

"I need to do a review at the field office, but I'll be back as soon as I can." Rafael said, reaching out to gently pat his daughter's shoulder. His hand dropped back down to his side as he sighed quietly, avoiding eye contact with both of his children. "I might have to miss the first game of the season."

Melody bit back the snarky remark that was itching to roll off her tongue and stayed silence, simply glancing up at Scott to see what he would say. "It's no big deal." Scott said, shrugging his shoulders. 

"It is to me." Rafael said, his gaze drifting back to Melody. "Look, yesterday Melody made some good points. I haven't been sticking to what I've been saying I'll do, I said I was going to be a better father, be around more but I haven't been. It is a big deal to me, I'm keeping my promises this time."

"I didn't mean to shout at you like I did, Dad." Melody said, her hand coming up to rub the back of her neck sheepishly. "I was just stressed and-"

"It's okay, sweetheart. Like I said, you made some good points. Said some things I needed to hear. Don't worry about it." Rafael said, reaching out to ruffle the girl's dark hair. Melody flattened her hair back down and nodded her head, her gaze drifting to the evidence bags in her father's hand. Scott's eyes followed Melody's, his stare also fixing on the bags. Rafael took a deep breath, realising what they were looking at. He knew that Melody understood why he did what he did, considering she had been there with him but he had to admit he was wary of what Scott was thinking. "What I did, it was necessary. Justifiable. You know that, right?"