everyonelives | there's something due any day

I mean. Your brother, Cooper.

( He's lost family and friends, too. He has to ask. He should've led with that, but, again. )

Oh.

[Right. His brother. His face flickers and he shakes his head before reaching for his coffee again.]

Yeah, we're not dealing with that. I mean, we buried him and all of that, but talking about it would mean acknowledging that he died pointlessly instead of for the cause, and Dad's not ready to deal with that yet.

And you. If you wanted to talk about it. At all. I'm here.

( For however long. )

I appreciate that.

[But he's not even really sure where to begin to unpack that. It's still not something he's fully processed as happening, finding himself reaching out for a phantom sibling that isn't even there.

And to think, that he died uselessly, it only makes him angry.]

But I need to set this right first. Then I'll worry about grieving.

[It is the hunter way.]

You will. We will, Coop. Cooper. Coop. What do you, what do you like?

( and the check comes, William grabbing for it immediately. )

[He smirks. He also definitely doesn't reach for the check because why use his fake hunter money when your boyfriend is super rich.]

Coop is good.

( boyfriend, brackets?

he sets a card inside and drops the check back down. )

Look, I - really like you. But, when we do go back, when you call Allison, Isaac will be listening in. I want to be transparent.

[It was shorter to type than "guy who I banged that one time after we survived a witch siege."]

I get it. I don't blame you all for being suspicious. I would be too.

( likely. )

Reading heartbeats, it's one of the good things about having a werewolf on the payroll. Or, I guess I'm on the payroll now and he runs things. I want this to work.

Definitely less creepy than sitting with someone's fingers on your pulse, worried if they're going to snap your neck if you fuck up.

[Because that definitely might have been Monroe's approach that she learned from Gerard.]

That's how hunters do it? And, there are people that don't survive two fingers on the pulse.

( Someone like Monroe, her followers, they'd snap someone's neck. They wouldn't hesitate. )

If the person acting as the lie detector thinks you're lying and the lie is egregious enough, you don't.

[It does vary, depending on the situation.]

Were you ever the person whose fingers...

( His dad has carried that darkness and he shouldn't be asking, but the words come tumbling out. He can't put them back. )

[He shakes his head. Not like that. If he's going to take you out, it's going to be a fair fight with weapons in both hands.]

No. That's not really my style.

( And from talk of fingers to his intertwining with Coop's. They were there, sitting and he wanted to. )

It's not. I'm - sorry I asked. I - well, you know who my dad is. And you met my sister.

[He shakes his head. But he doesn't pull his hand away. That's kind of nice.]

No, I get it. It's a valid question.

Maybe, but it's also crossing. It's crossing lines. And, it feels like that's what we're doing and I am good with it. I want it. I just - want to make sure you want it, too. And, you can also save your answer for after meeting Allison.

( There he goes again, trying to let someone make their own decisions because all his dad does is make decisions without asking anyone. )

[He nods in agreement because...]

I might do that.

[Not that the answer is no. But if Allison says no, it might not be safe.]

( He pulls his hand away again. )

We only have a few hours. Do you want to do this? I'll be right there.

Yeah.

[He glances around.]

Should we do this here? Or should we ... find somewhere more private?

[Where they can speak freely.]

Private.

( In fact, there is a pub next door where Isaac should be waiting in a booth toward the back. It's early and empty and William's influence has definitely closed this particular pub for the duration of this call. )

Isaac, you may remember Coop-er.

[Isaac nods and lifts his drink in Cooper's direction. Coop nods as well.]

Nice to meet you, officially.

["You too. Have a seat."]

( William sits between them at a chair as Cooper slides into the opposite side of the booth. He presents Cooper with the number he'd jotted down pushing it across the table's surface with two fingers. )

Dial that number with your camera on, it won't do you any good after as it shuffles through a series of numbers every hour, and the IP bounces off of several others, so it is impenetrably untraceable. Unless you have me. Isaac is only here to listen to your heartbeat and I am here because you'd be my asset. And well, you know why you're here. When you're ready, she's ready.

[He nods.]

Sounds good.

[And with that, he'll do as instructed, dialing the number and waiting for Allison to respond.]

( It was the professional spiel, also for Isaac's benefit. Isaac is not aware of - well, he actually might be considering werewolf scent but William's not aware... anyway, William believes Isaac knows that this is all professional.

Anyway, Allison is not in any headquarters, but a familiar bar in a familiar town, again, tucked in the back with her AirPods in. Damon was nice enough to oblige. Scott and Stiles are devouring food and playing pool, and if Lydia wants, she can be sitting right there, or maybe she's at the bar with Damon. Allison's been waiting for this.

When the call goes through she pushes her laptop away to center herself in the window. )

Cooper Sullivan. ( This is about worst case scenario, defection, or best, getting a real double agent who isn't a conditioned hunter-vampire. Thanks Damon. ) What do you want to know?

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